Half of inmates at Manchester’s Valley Street Jail test positive
The state s largest county jail, in Manchester, has a little over 200 inmates. Less than 15 have been tested for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Published: 1/12/2021 6:54:41 PM
Rey DeJesus has been at Valley Street Jail since February, awaiting a trial for felony charges. He and his wife, Krystal DeJesus, talk on the phone every day, and a few weeks ago, he called to say people in the jail were getting sick.
Krystal DeJesus, a nursing assistant, gave her husband some advice:
“I said, ‘You know, the COVID is bad; it’s airborne,’ ” she recalled. ” ‘We’re wearing masks out here. You guys have no masks?’ He said, ‘No, they haven’t provided us with no masks at all.’”
Listen to the broadcast story
DeJesus said her husband finally got a mask in late December, nine months into the pandemic. It was also around the same time that he and most inmates in his unit tested positive for COVID-19.
Now, they’re all quarantined in their cells, with one to two hours a day out to call lawyers or family. DeJesus says her husband is sick, and that despite having asthma, he hasn’t been given his inhaler. DeJesus says it got so bad, he ended up in the hospital a few days ago.
“Every day I’m wondering if he’s going to call me and it’s going to be worse,” she said. “I’m worried I’m going to bury my husband due to something that could have been prevented.”
Earlier updates:
Update: Thursday, Dec. 31, 7:01 p.m.
The state has released new data about how COVID-19 vaccines are being allocated.
Of the over 64,000 doses that have arrived in New Hampshire, about a third have actually been administered to high-risk health care workers, first responders, and people associated with long-term care facilities.
That means that about 18 percent of the state s highest-risk population has been vaccinated so far. The state says it hopes to have all of them immunized with at least the first of the two shots by the end of January.
Another 17,000 shots are expected to arrive next week.
- Jordyn Haime
Lawyer says inmate with virus should be released
The state s largest county jail, in Manchester, has a little over 200 inmates. Less than 15 have been tested for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. NHPR
Modified: 12/31/2020 6:26:02 PM
A judge is considering whether an inmate at Valley Street Jail who has COVID-19 should be released on bail, in light of concerns about the facility’s management of health and safety during the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Charles Temple heard over three hours of arguments and testimony on the Manchester jail’s COVID-19 protocols. Attorney Elliot Friedman argued those protocols endanger the health and life of his client, William Jones.
Credit Emily Corwin for NHPR
A judge is considering whether an inmate at Valley Street Jail who has COVID-19 should be released on bail, in light of concerns about the facility s management of health and safety during the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Charles Temple heard over three hours of arguments and testimony on the Manchester jail s COVID-19 protocols. Attorney Elliot Friedman argued those protocols endanger the health and life of his client, William Jones.
Jones, who is in preventative detention awaiting trial, is one of two inmates who recently tested positive for the virus. Friedman says Jones treatment by staff, quality of food, and access to counsel has diminished while he’s been under quarantine.