Three weeks into COVID-19 vaccinations, DOC has vaccinated 10 percent of inmates, 40 percent of staff
Kelan Lyons, CTMirror.org
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HVIZDAK ph722a # 3174 New Haven, Connecticut-11/15/07: New Haven Community Correctional Center main entrance.
Three weeks into the Department of Correction’s vaccinations of the incarcerated population, 837 inmates less than 10% of the 9,034 people in prisons and jails as of Feb. 22 have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The department received another 500 doses Tuesday morning. Department Director of External Affairs Karen Martucci said the DOC has used all of the shots it has received and is seeking more.
“We roll them out as they come in,” said Martucci.
Cheshire Correctional Institution on Sept. 23, 2020.
The Department of Correction’s routine mass testing of prison staff and inmates has made it logistically difficult to quarantine and transfer people to different facilities, according to a recent report from a monitoring panel.
“The DOC has undertaken a herculean effort to test everyone who resides and works within the facility, far and above that which was expected as part of this agreement and far more than any other state prison system to our knowledge,” the panel wrote in its report about Cheshire Correctional Institution. “The high volume of testing has required frequent movement of people within the facility based on test results, which has been logistically challenging.”