A worker at Sing Sing Correctional Facility has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Officials working at the jail are trying to trace who else came in contact with the employee at the maximum-security prison in Westchester County, north of New York City.
Two others people in state custody have been tested for COVID-19 with the results still pending.
An employee at the notorious Sing Sing state prison in Westchester County tested positive for the coronavirus, setting off fears the virus could spread
The New York Corrections Department said it is following health protocols and guidelines.
Sing Sing is a maximum-security prison housing about 1,300 inmates.
Jermaine Archer, who is serving 22 years to life in Sing Sing for second-degree murder, spoke to NBC News by phone and spoke of fears over a possible outbreak at the jail.
‘People are really worried. I haven’t seen people,’ Archer said. ‘I was still in Sing Sing for 9/11, and I remember that, and people have the same looks on their faces when I walk by.
‘It’s more like concern and worry, like helplessness,’ Archer continued. ‘What can we do with someone else’s mercy? The biggest concern, again, is what is the contingency plan?’
The state Department of Corrections confirmed Tuesday night that the worker tested positive, but that no inmates have tested positive for COVID-19
‘It’s impossible, absolutely impossible, because right now there’s no visitors, so we have to use the phones,’ Archer said. ‘You’ve got to wipe it down between every person. Guys have to use the kiosk machine to send out emails. Guys have to touch the trays in the mess halls to eat. Guys have to touch their cell bars. Guys have to hand their ID cards to staff.’
‘This is going to be absolutely catastrophic inside prisons, particularly with the U.S. having an aging population,’ said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, a nonprofit advocacy organization focused on prison labor. ‘The circumstances for folks who are incarcerated are remarkably grave.’
The Corrections Department has banned all visitations at New York correctional facilities until April 11 ‘to prevent additional spread of infectious viral transmission of COVID-19 in both correctional facilities and the community writ large.’
‘I have pretty grave concerns,’ Dr. Homer Venters said to NBC. ‘Patients will get sick in these places and will not be adequately monitored.’
Dr Venters was a former chief medical officer of New York City Correctional Health Services and noted that prisons contained a ‘high level of filth and squalor’.
‘Jails and prisons may actually drive this epidemic curve up,’ he explained. ‘These are places that can serve as reservoirs or accelerators of an outbreak.’
Legal Aid Society’s Tina Luongo said: ‘These facilities are literal breeding grounds for infectious disease such as COVID-19. The continued incarceration of our clients during this health crisis could very well carry a death sentence.’
‘Public-health authorities are unanimous: We must clean communal areas with disinfectants, and thoroughly and frequently wash our hands with soap and water to slow transmission of this virus,’ Luongo said.
Asked about the jails at his Sunday press briefing, Mayor Bill de Blasio said: ‘The folks in our jails are in our jails right now with a lot of specific precautions. There’s definitely distancing initiatives going on. Very careful checks on health care. We’ll have more to say on that. That’s one of the areas that’s going to come up next on the agenda, but I’m very concerned about it. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need a functioning jail system.’
L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said his agency reduced the number of inmates in its jails by more than 600 amid concerns over the coronavirus
On Monday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva moved to cut the number of prisoners in its jails by more than 600 over concerns about the coronavirus.
Despite there being are no confirmed cases of the virus in the jails, 21 inmates have been quarantined at Men’s Central Jail, five are in quarantine at Twin Towers Correctional Facility and a further nine at the Correctional Treatment Center.
‘All of them are receiving the necessary level of care,’ Villanueva said at a news conference Monday.
‘I’ve used my authority that I have to reduce that population,’ he continued.
Villanueva ended up releasing inmates who had less than 30 days of jail time left to run on their sentence.
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California urged the Sheriff’s Department to speed up the release of the inmates.
‘People in jails are highly vulnerable to outbreaks of contagious illnesses. They are housed in close quarters and are often in poor health,’ the union said.
‘Restrictive responses, such as lockdowns, would worsen the conditions for those inside, putting their health and safety at risk,’ the ACLU wrote. ‘The only meaningful way to keep people inside and outside of the jails safe from COVID-19 is to decrease the total number of people who are incarcerated.’
There’s no confirmed cases of the virus in the LA jails but 35 inmates are quarantined (file)
