San Quentin Prison Fined Over $400,000 After COVID-19 Outbreak

KEY POINTS

The notification stated that the prison did not report COVID-19 illnesses or deaths of employees
California’s oldest prison reported 28 inmate deaths from the coronavirus
Nearly 300 employees also had COVID-19

San Quentin State Prison has been fined over $400,000 by the California Department of Industrial Relations following a deadly COVID-19 outbreak last year.

The department’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued the notification of penalty on Monday for workplace safety violations, CNN noted. Around 15 violations were issued. The notification stated that the prison failed to report coronavirus illnesses or deaths of employees.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in the oldest prison in California led to 28 inmate deaths and more than 2,000 infections among the prisoners. Nearly 300 employees were also infected, and one died.

The fine comes just days after a state inspector general’s report that said the transfer of “medically vulnerable incarcerated persons” without proper safeguards created a public health disaster.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement that San Quentin State Prison has made several improvements — including increased testing — since the Cal-OSHA visited the institution last June and July, CNN added.

When the California Institution for Men in Chino experienced a COVID-19 outbreak in May, the state’s corrections department decided to transfer out some detainees. The inspector general’s report noted that 122 detainees were transferred to San Quentin on May 30.

The New York Times reported that state prison administrators acknowledged few, if any, of the inmates from Chino had been tested for at least three weeks before the move and they were not tested after the transfer to San Quentin.

Soon after the transfer, the number of COVID-19 cases in San Quentin soared. No one had tested positive at San Quentin before the move.

In October 2020, a California appeals court ordered the state corrections officials to reduce the population of San Quentin prison by half. In the ruling, it said the COVID-19 outbreak was “the worst epidemiological disaster in California correctional history.” However, the order was put on hold by the California Supreme Court on Dec. 23 and the case was sent back to a lower court.

Meanwhile, Oregon is prioritizing inmates in its state prisons for the COVID-19 vaccine over senior citizens and teachers. The Oregon state prison system has had nearly 3,400 inmates test positive for the coronavirus.