By Troy Torres
Department of Corrections deputy director Bob Camacho confirms 62 more DOC inmates, all male, have tested positive for the Coronavirus over the weekend.
That brings the total population of inmates and detainees who have tested positive to 164. Of those numbers, 24 have since been cleared, and two have been released from prison.
More prisoners, who have less than a year left before they qualify for release, are requesting to be released early due to the virus's spread. The parole board, according to one inmate, has placed two additional qualifications on early release: the candidate must not be serving time for a violent crime, and must have a health condition.
The 62 inmates were housed in Post 5 and Post 18. Not all of the new positive cases have been moved away from their posts.
"We have a designated post for quarantine, however, we were advised by Public Health to keep the some of them at a different wing within the unit," Mr. Camacho said. "The challenge is to keep the same security level of inmates and not mix them up do to security concerns. So COVID placement depends on security level, number of positives and the extend of the medical condition."
As of last week there were 465 prisoners under the custody of the DOC, according to Mr. Camacho.
