Respiratory particles containing the coronavirus can linger in the air for hours after leaving a host. To help combat this, a new device is being installed at some southeast Michigan jail facilities. Twenty-two machines purchased by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office are built to filter and kill viruses though heat and filters. The goal is [...]
The Los Angeles Times reports that 40% of inmates in California’s corrections system have received the COVID-19 vaccine, a figure praised by prison advocates who say that only a fraction of the state’s vaccine supply is needed to protect a population that’s among the most vulnerable to the virus. The vaccinations began Dec. 22 according [...]
Fox News reports that of the nearly 900 positive cases of COVID-19 in the Michigan prison system, more than half of those cases are found in Ionia County. The Michigan Department of Corrections also noted that the UK variant of COVID-19 was found at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia. This strain is believed [...]
The Detroit Free Press reports that prisoners and staff at a state correctional facility in Michigan are now being tested daily for the coronavirus after the detection of the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant of coronavirus. The variant, which first appeared in the United Kingdom in September, spreads more easily than other previously identified strains. [...]
Michigan Public Radio reports that Michigan Department of Corrections is sending test results to labs to look for coronavirus variants. The variant of the virus from the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7) is thought to be about 50% more transmissionable than the original strain. It was first detected in Washtenaw County in mid-January and their are concerns that it [...]
A faster-spreading variant of coronavirus has been discovered for the first time at a Michigan prison reports Patch.com. The report notes that MDOC officials said an employee at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia had tested positive for B.1.1.7, otherwise known as the U.K. variant of the coronavirus. It is the first known [...]
The Guardian reports that the question of when, "2.3 million incarcerated Americans will receive the vaccine depends largely on where they are detained." Many vaccination plans have been in flux over the last few months because of politics - who gets vaccinated and when. Unfortunately this means many prisoners risk dying in prison. One [...]
According to reports, during the Covid-19 peak in April, there was a 500 percent increase in solitary confinement. Distinct from medical isolation, solitary confinement usually involves restrictions and reduced access to resources such as TV. This push to use solitary confinement to reduce the spread of COVID-19 likely resulted in prisoners not reporting symptoms [...]
The Michigan Daily reports that activists and students are criticizing Michigan's COVID immunization plan for not prioritizing individuals in prison. As COVID cases continue to rise in Michigan's prisons, activists and families of those in Michigan prisons are pressing for prisoners to have priority for vaccination because of living conditions in prison. Read more: [...]
Traverse City Record Eagle reports that just as vaccination efforts begin in Michigan’s prisons, the data shows that the state has some of the highest COVID-19 infection and death rates in the nation. Michigan’s Department of Corrections suggests that due to wide-scale testing across the Michigan’s prison population that this may indicate that other [...]
