COVID-19 Breeding Ground: Ohio's Penal System Suffers Massive Coronavirus Cases Among Inmates

COVID-19, the virus caused by the novel coronavirus, continues to wreck havoc in Ohio and its state penitentiaries as the number of inmates infected by the illness skyrocket to more than half of the population in one institution.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said Sunday (April 19) that the state's penal system has a staggering 2,426 cases of COVID-19 among its prisoners. The majority of these cases came from the Marion Correctional Institution where 1,828 inmates have tested positive for the virus.

The number accounts to 73% of the prison's population, while the remaining 667 detainees are now in quarantine, state officials said, through The Columbus Dispatch.

In addition to the COVID-19-positive prisoners, 109 staff members who work at the Institution have also contracted the virus and one has died. A total of 38 of those prisoners are being treated at an outside hospital.

The Marion Correctional Institution houses around 2,500 inmates, according to the New York Times.

Pickaway Correctional is another jail that has been hit hard by COVID-19 with 384 of its prisoners testing positive alongside 64 of its employees.

Five deaths were also reported, while the remaining 1,614 inmates are now in quarantine.

Moreover, the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus has 103 inmate-patients and 46 employees are sick from COVID-19. One inmate-patient has died and the remaining 393 inmate-patients have been placed in quarantine.

According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, they were able to identify positive case who are asymptomatic due to the mass testing process.

Likewise, the spokesperson JoEllen Smith told the Dispatch that those who “require additional care” are being treated at hospitals near the prisons or at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Lending medical support at Pickaway Correctional is the Ohio National Guard and will soon help those at Marion Correctional.

“Also, our comprehensive testing approach of staff and inmates has assisted us in identifying asymptomatic individuals who have tested positive who can now be isolated from others in order to prevent further spread,” said NBC4i, citing a statement from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Only 637 of the state's overall prison population came back negative.