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EMILY HAMER
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has vaccinated 17% of state prisoners against COVID-19, but is still lagging behind the statewide vaccination rate of 37.6% of residents who have received a dose â despite all inmates having been eligible since March 1.
Although the vaccines seem to be running behind, the number of COVID-19 cases in the prison system has plummeted. On Tuesday, the active case count among prisoners was just six â the lowest it has been since June 19. Over the course of the pandemic, nearly 11,000 Wisconsin prisoners have been infected and 26 have died.
Also as of Tuesday, 3,293 state prisoners had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to DOC vaccine data that is now updated weekly.
Two guards, one prison staff member and four inmates tell of frustrations with how Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution handled a COVID-19 outbreak that exploded to more than 870 cases.
As COVID-19 cases slowly started to tick up at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution in early September, inmate Shun Warren was trying his best to stay healthy.
He wore a mask, kept 6 feet away from his fellow inmates, tried not to touch his face and washed his hands as often as possible, he said.
What Warren didnât expect was on Sept. 4 to be put in the same cell as an inmate who had just been exposed to COVID-19. The inmateâs old cellmate was sent to isolation the night before after testing positive for COVID-19, Warren said.
Four days later, Warrenâs new cellmate also tested positive. Six days after that, Warren did too, he said.