An outbreak at Newport’s Northern State Correctional Facility has surged to 137 cases, the Department of Corrections disclosed Tuesday evening.
State officials first announced late last week that the prison had been placed on lockdown after 22 cases were detected during testing conducted on Feb. 23. Subsequent testing conducted between then and March 1 brought the total up to 127 positive cases among inmates and 10 cases among staff.
That’s roughly one-third of those incarcerated at Northern State, which houses 350 or so inmates — and 10 percent of Vermont’s entire prison population.
“This is the largest outbreak at a Vermont correctional facility since the start of the pandemic, and it’s all hands on deck for our response,” interim Corrections Commissioner Jim Baker said in a statement. “Northern State is now being treated like a hospital. We’re coordinating with our medical contractor, regional hospitals, the State Emergency Operations Center, the Vermont Department of Health, and other partners to ensure we have wraparound services for those in our care.”
Contact tracing is underway, DOC officials said, and the entire facility will be tested again on March 4. All other state correctional facilities are in modified lockdown, which provides for “cohorting in groups that allow for social distancing, given the space available,” according to the corrections department.
Neither incarcerated individuals nor correctional officers have been eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine unless they have qualified due to their age. But state officials announced earlier Tuesday that staff in Vermont’s prisons and jails will be able to get shots starting next week.
Kelly Green, an attorney with the state’s Prisoners’ Rights Office, criticized Gov. Phil Scott’s administration on Twitter late Tuesday for declining to prioritize the vaccination of prisoners.
“I’m angry,” she wrote. “Prisoners do not have a lobby. They do have a ton of medical conditions that make them susceptible to serious illness.”
Families and friends of incarcerated individuals can contact the Vermont DOC Office of Constituency Services with questions online. Daily updates on the Covid-19 response in Vermont’s correctional facilities can be found at vermont.gov/covid-19-information-page.
