Reportedly 18 inmates at New Orleans Parish Prison are in isolation as they deal with COVID-19 infections.
Sheriff Marlin Gusman denies the affected are in general population.
He says any prisoner testing positive for COVID are sent to isolation—housed individually and treated by medical personnel.
According to Gusman there are 800 prisoners currently in the Parish lockup.
A little more than half are fully vaccinated.
Gusman says he can’t mandate the prisoners get the COVID vaccine, but he can encourage them to.
To incentivize inmates to get the COVID vaccination, he tells a local broadcaster, he encouraged them to sign up for the state’s Shot at a Million campaign.
He says inmates who are vaccinated inside the prison are usually the only ones in their families who are vaccinated against the infection.
There is masking and social distancing going on inside the prison.
All inmates, prison guards and prison staff are tested every 21 days for COVID-19.