An Arkansas maximum security prison has been heavily impacted by a COVID-19 outbreak, leading to concerns about prisoner conditions during the public health crisis.
The Cummins Unit, located approximately 28 miles south of Pine Bluff, has experienced a significant rise in COVID-19 cases. According to Arkansas Department of Health Secretary Dr. Nathaniel Smith, there are now 348 positive cases in the prison unit.
In addition, there have been six staff members who have tested positive. In total, 16 staff members have been tested so far.
In response, state officials have scrambled to test inmates at the unit. Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters during a Sunday afternoon press conference that roughly 1,400 inmates have been tested to date. In the past two days, 973 tests have been performed with the remaining tests performed earlier in the week.
So far, 634 of the test have been returned, producing the 348 positives. Hutchinson said that ADL Laboratories in Memphis performed the tests, providing a “quick turnaround” for the results.
These numbers have not yet been included in the state’s cumulative COVID-19 cases. Smith said that the ADH was still processing the numbers to include them in the state’s totals. As of Sunday afternoon, Arkansas has a reported total of 1,781 cases and 40 deaths.
“The number that we will have coming out of Cummins dwarfs what we’re having statewide with 348 positives thus far,” Hutchinson said. “That’s a reason of course to distinguish those in the reporting system.”
To limit the spread of the virus within the Cummins Unit, prison officials have divided the unit into positive and non-positive sections with eight barracks for prisoners who have tested positive and seven for prisoners who have not. Arkansas Department of Corrections Director Dexter Payne said that there are currently no symptomatic prisoners in Cummins’ South Hall or its modular units, which are located outside of the main facility. Prisoners in these spaces, he said, have not been tested.
In recent days, Hutchinson has received calls to institute a compassionate release program for Arkansas prisoners. He has referenced requests for a release program in past press conference but has said that this would be a matter of public health versus public safety.
However, he said that he is ordering a review of all non-violent, non-sexual offenders who are due for release in the next six months. There are 1,990 inmates that fit the criteria that Hutchinson outlined. The Arkansas Parole Board and the Board of Corrections will be directed to review these prisoners to determine who can be released based on public safety considerations.
The release program is designed to ensure space in the state’s prison system in the event of more COVID-19 outbreaks. The release program, Hutchinson said, will allow for increased room for isolating prisoners who might contracted COVID-19 while incarcerated.
“It’s a matter of looking ahead and planning in the event that we have a challenge in any of the other facilities,” he said.
According to Payne, his department is already reviewing Cummins Unit inmates based on Hutchinson’s release criteria, as well as compiling a list of inmates who are suffering from chronic illnesses. However, if a prisoner is granted a release but is infected with COVID-19, they will be not be immediately release as a public health safeguard.
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