Two More Mass. Prisoners Die Of COVID, DOC Reports

Jan 22, 2021
WBUR
By Deborah Becker

Two Massachusetts men, incarcerated at different state prisons, have died of COVID-19 in the past week. Six prisoners have died of the disease in the past three weeks.

The state Department of Correction said a man in his 60s who was being held at Old Colony Correctional Center was recently taken to the hospital for a medical emergency, where he later died. The DOC said the man had no known history of COVID, but tested positive for the disease at the hospital.

Another man in his 70s, who was being held at MCI-Norfolk, also died of the coronavirus this week. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks.

Fourteen state prisoners were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Thursday night, according to the DOC.

The DOC is reporting 19 COVID-related deaths since the pandemic began, but that does not take into account prisoners who were granted medical parole shortly before their deaths. At least two men have died within a day of being granted medical parole, but they are no longer considered in state custody once parole is granted.