Prison Deaths from COVID-19: How Many Staff, Inmates Have Died in the Fresno Region?.

Up and down California, the state’s prison system has provided the novel coronavirus with a captive population in which to spread during the pandemic.

Since the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified earlier this year, more than 1,950 prison staff within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have contracted the virus. And while 916 of those workers have recovered and returned to work, eight prison staffers have died from the disease, including two at prisons in Madera County.

The growing number of cases has advocates for inmates’ families fearing for the safety of their incarcerated loved ones. Some staged a protest this week outside the Central California Women’s Institution near Chowchilla.

Among the more than 98,000 men and women incarcerated in state prisons in California as of Friday, 8,665 have tested positive for the virus, including 51 who have died. More than 1,000 of those infections have been detected within the past two weeks.

The prison system reports that almost 1,400 inmates statewide currently have active COVID-19 infections, while more than 6,900 have recovered. Additionally, about 300 inmates have been released from prison after fulfilling their sentence while still categorized with an active coronavirus infection.

 

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