Area State Prison COVID-19 Cases Increase
The Michigan Department of Corrections has been reporting on COVID-19 statistics among staff and prisoners for a couple months now. This week, a new level of attention is being placed on some regional prisons. Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater has a current prisoner population of 1,442. As of this week, 815, or 56 percent of the prisoners being held there, have tested positive for the virus. 39 Lakeland staff are also testing positive. At the Muskegon Correctional Facility, not quite half the prisoners are testing positive for the virus. That’s 612 positives out of a reported prison population of 1,296. Fifteen staff members there are also having tests come back positive.
Since the virus outbreak began in March, over 46-hundred prisoners have tested positive with not quite 550 still listed as active cases. At least 68 state prisoners are reported to have died with the virus playing at least some role in their deaths. Some state prisoners are blaming the state for an inadequate response to the virus. They claim their lives are in danger. Correction system administrators though claim they’ve got things well in hand.