Coronavirus tracker: Statewide update for Saturday

March 21, 2020
Berkshire Eagle
State House News

COVID-19 enters the prisons

Visitation rights have been suspended at all state prisons as an advocacy group fighting for the rights of inmates said Saturday that the first case of coronavirus in a lockup facility had been detected in Bridgewater. Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts said that an inmate at the Massachusetts Treatment Center had tested positive of COVID-19, and executive director Elizabeth Matos expressed concern that the Department of Correction was not prepared for a potential outbreak in the prison system.

“We are behind the eight ball on prevention and need to act aggressively to prevent the number of infections from reaching tragic numbers. The Department Correction and Sheriffs, working with proper health authorities, must quickly and transparently create, release, and execute a comprehensive plan for COVID-19 in the state’s prisons and jails, and it must include releases,” Matos said.