Kentucky ranks near top for inmate mortality, with COVID infecting 90% in one prison
Three more Kentucky state prison inmates have died of COVID-19 since Tuesday, raising the total number of deaths so far to 42, while mass outbreaks at state prisons in Oldham and Morgan counties this week have actively infected most of the inmates in those institutions.
As of Wednesday, 90 percent of the 1,058 inmates at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in suburban Oldham County were actively infected with COVID-19, according to the state Department of Corrections. In rural Morgan County, 67 percent of the 1,510 inmates at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex were actively infected.
The Kentucky Department of Corrections said Thursday that it’s monitoring the prison outbreaks “very closely.”
“We are continuing to collaborate with the Department for Public Health to ensure proper safety protocols are in place. The bottom line is this is an extremely difficult time due to the rampant nature of the virus,” said department spokeswoman Katherine Williams.
State prison officials said the three recent deaths include a 61-year-old man serving an 18-year sentence for assault out of Franklin County; a 30-year-old man serving time for burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and escape out of Hopkins and Fayette counties; and a 56-year-old man serving a life sentence for murder out of Perry County.
All three inmates were hospitalized, officials said. The Department of Corrections has declined to identify by name the inmates who die of COVID-19 while in state custody.
Kentucky must vaccinate its incarcerated population as quickly as possible to prevent further deaths, said Ashley Spalding, who studies criminal justice reform for the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy in Berea.
“We know that jails and prisons are hot-spots for this virus even with the precautions that are being taken,” Spalding said. “Certainly you can wipe down surfaces with disinfectant. But when you’re dealing with an airborne virus that is highly contagious, there are a limited number of options for people trying to protect themselves in a small, enclosed space with nowhere to go.”
There is not yet a schedule for state inmate vaccination, Williams said.
Even before the latest inmate deaths, Kentucky had one of the nation’s highest prison mortality rates during the novel coronavirus pandemic, trailing only New Mexico and Michigan, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Marshall Project in New York.
Two in every five of Kentucky’s state inmates have been infected over the past 10 months, with a COVID-19 death rate that has been nearly five times the state average, according to the Marshall Project.
Five employees of the Department of Corrections also have died from COVID-19. As of Wednesday, 169 prison employees were actively infected.
“That’s definitely something that we should consider from a public health standpoint,” Spalding said. “The jail and prison walls don’t keep the virus inside. The surrounding communities are very much impacted as staff come and go and bring the virus with them.”
The Department of Corrections has said that it’s trying to curb the spread of the virus. In-person visitation with inmates ended last March. Masks and frequent cleaning are supposed to be required, as are mass testing for the virus and housing segregation based on whether inmates test positive or have been directly exposed to someone who tests positive.
Also, Gov. Andy Beshear last year ordered the early release of hundreds of non-violent state inmates to protect those with chronic health problems and reduce the prison population, now down to 9,736.
The suspension of jury trials and other court proceedings for most of the pandemic also has resulted in far fewer people being sent to prison. Most state prisons are reporting plenty of empty beds to allow room for movement, although the state continues to house 8,796 of its lower-level felons in local jails, many of which — because they also hold people who have been arrested and await trial — remain badly overcrowded.
The ACLU of Kentucky, which last year unsuccessfully sued for the early release of additional inmates during the pandemic, said Thursday that the Department of Corrections has “made minimal efforts” to provide inmates with social distancing, cleaner living conditions and personal protective equipment.
“So many of the deaths and the untold fear and suffering caused by this illness spreading among incarcerated people, correctional officers and their families could have been avoided with prompt action. DOC officials have long known of the need to act and have failed to do so,” Aaron Tucek, ACLU legal fellow.
In addition to state prisons, federal prisons in Kentucky report 15 inmate deaths from COVID-19. As of Tuesday, a mass outbreak at the Federal Medical Center, a federal prison on Leestown Road in Lexington, was infecting 370 inmates and 11 prison employees, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Kentucky ranks near top for inmate mortality, with COVID infecting 90% in one prison."
