COVID-19 outbreaks in the state’s prisons are continuing to put a strain on hospitals overrun by the current surge.
Throughout the pandemic there have been over 38,000 cases in the state prison system, and that is not including outbreaks at federal prisons or local jails.
Currently about 1 in 10 people incarcerated by the state of California are infected with the virus. One of the worst-hit is the Correctional Training Facility in Monterey County where 20% of the population has an active case.
About 100 prisoners are sick enough that they have been transported to healthcare facilities outside of the prison walls, contributing to the surge in hospital admissions statewide.
“We have protocols in terms of capacity building within the system in terms of isolation, quarantine, in terms of surge capacity that have come from the experience of San Quentin,” said Gov. Newsom, referring to a summer outbreak at San Quentin State Prison where more than 2,200 residents became infected.
Newsom says the state is now better equipped to manage prison outbreaks, with mask wearing strengthened after the Inspector General reported lax enforcement of safety protocols.
“It’s actually increased our testing protocols of staff and institutions as well as our new aggressive mask mandates with now a higher level of masks - meaning N95, not just surgical procedure masks - of inmates and staff if there’s any even modest outbreaks.”
A court ordered the state several months ago to reduce the population at San Quentin by 50% because of the outbreak, and inmate advocates are pushing for more mass releases as many facilities are not built for proper social distancing or quarantining.
“We have reduced the census, the total population, since March by over 21,000 individuals. Over 21,000. This is without precedent in California history,” said Gov. Newsom. “I, on a weekly basis, without exception spend hours and hours and hours going through the cases of each and every individual. I simply will not, en masse, release people without looking individual by individual.”
More than 11,000 staff members have been infected and 11 have died.