Early results: 85 Vermont inmates in Mississippi have virus

While Vermont has the lowest number of COVID-19 cases in the country and has been largely able to control outbreaks in its own prisons, 85 Vermont inmates held at a Mississippi prison have tested positive for the illness caused by the coronavirus in early results, a finding that inmate advocates say was predictable and could have been prevented.

Vermont houses 219 inmates at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi, because of a lack of capacity in its own prisons. After six inmates returning to Vermont from Mississippi tested positive recently, the Vermont Corrections Department on July 30 ordered that the remaining Vermont inmates held there be tested.

Teams from the department and CoreCivic, the operator of the Mississippi facility, “are working around the clock to implement the Vermont model of mitigation at TCCF and ensure the continued safety of the inmates housed there,” Interim Vermont Corrections Commissioner James Baker said in a written statement on Sunday. He was expected to give an update late Monday afternoon.

For inmate advocates, the testing came too late.

“This was predictable and preventable,” said James Lyall, executive director of the ACLU of Vermont. It was the direct result of Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s administration “stubbornly refusing to take a more proactive approach to the threat of COVID-19 in prison settings,” he said. “It reflects a callous indifference to the lives of people who live and work in our prison system, and the communities to whom they are connected.”

The Vermont Prisoners’ Rights Office filed a lawsuit early in the pandemic to bring the Vermont inmates back or have the facility adopt CDC guidelines for dealing with the virus, which they agreed to do, said Defender General Matt Valerio. But then the office was getting reports of staff not always wearing masks, inmates who did janitorial jobs moving freely within the facility without hand coverings or masks, people serving food who might be wearing masks but their hands weren’t covered or weren’t being washed, he said.

“There’s definitely a different culture and demeanor in Mississippi about the virus and how impactful it can be,” he said.

CoreCivic said it has “rigorously followed the guidance of local, state and federal health authorities, as well as our government partners,” even before any confirmed cases in its facilities, said Ryan Gustin, public affairs manager. The Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility has followed CDC guidelines, which have evolved over time, since the onset of the pandemic and is continuing to work closely with Vermont officials “to enhance procedures as needed,” he said.

Trending