• Live.Coronavirus, last minute
  • USA.California closes beaches and restaurants after breaking a record of infections

San Quentin prison, the oldest in California, has become one of the largest Covid-19 outbreaks in the entire United States. The transfer a month and a half ago of 121 inmates from the Chino prison, in southern California - where 941 cases and 17 deaths due to the coronavirus have been registered - precipitated a massive contagion that is putting hospitals in the area of San Francisco Bay. At least 1,500 people, including prisoners and staff, have tested positive for the virus in the prison where Charles Manson served part of his sentence . Seven have lost their lives, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

The prison, with a problem of overcrowding due to its overpopulation, had not registered a single case at the end of May, when the prison authorities made the decision to transfer prisoners over 65 or with previous medical conditions from Chino to alleviate the crisis in that center. According to the newspaper 'San Francisco Chronicle', most were not subjected to tests two weeks before the transfer , which would explain the current situation in San Quintín.

Within a few days of arriving, some of those inmates began to show symptoms of the coronavirus, and 25 of them tested positive shortly thereafter. Sandra McCoy , an epidemiologist at the University of California Berkeley cited by Nature magazine, says she lived scenes of men desperately asking for help from their cells. In the subsequent report they published with Amend, an expert prison organization, they speak of "extremely poor ventilation, extraordinarily close cells and poor cleanliness."

Of the 3,547 inmates currently in San Quentin, including 721 on death row, some 1,400 are part of a high-risk group off Covid-19. For this reason they recommend a reduction of at least 50% of the prison population to avoid a case of a local epidemic and a major health crisis. "San Quintín is an extremely dangerous place for an outbreak," they concluded. "Every effort must be made to decrease the number of people exposed to this environment as quickly as possible."

"They haven't taken it seriously"

Among the inmates, the fear is palpable. "This is spreading like a fire," one of them explained to ABC on condition of anonymity. "We have had officers who have come to work sick knowing that they were. Some of the sick searched our cells and everyone who has had a search is now infected ." A few months after recovering his freedom, after serving a 20-year sentence, he does not believe that he will be able to get out of San Quintín alive due to the virus.

Many say that this new tragedy could have been prevented, including California Governor Gavin Newsom . "They should never have been transferred," he said, referring to inmates arriving from the Chino prison. Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner , during an appearance in Sacramento last week, joined the criticism of the CDCR. "I feel like they haven't taken it seriously."

The situation, however, is serious. At least 62 inmates have been transferred to hospitals outside the prison, according to the CDCR itself, and the penitentiary has been forced to install tents on the compound to care for the sick and isolate the infected for 14 days. The authorities' commitment is now the urgent reduction of the prison population to reduce contagion.

Joshua Connor , an inmate doctor in Northern California, sees no other way out. "The only way to prevent catastrophic loss of life inside and outside the prison system is to significantly reduce the prison population." It confirms that cases of hypertension, diabetes, and heart and kidney problems are very common behind bars, further complicating the current situation.

Released prematurely

Newsom reacted on Friday with the announcement of the release of up to 8,000 prisoners prematurely to ease the crisis. More than half could be out before the end of July, continuing their efforts to reduce the prison population as an emergency measure against the coronavirus. Altogether, they estimate that there are 10,000 fewer prisoners in the state's 35 prisons since the pandemic began.

Prisons have been one of the main sources of contagion in California during this crisis. In fact, the figures are noticeably worse than among the rest of the Golden State population. As of Friday, 5,875 prisoners had been infected, with a balance of 31 dead . The contagion rate is 4.8%, a fact that extrapolated to the rest of Californians would be equivalent to 1.8 million cases when in fact 312,000 have been registered.

Last week, Marin County confirmed the death of one of the death row inmates, Richard Stitely , 71. He was found dead in his cell. Scott Thomas , 57, Manuel Machado , 59, and Dwayne Carey , 59, have also perished for Covid-19 related causes. Everything indicates that the list will be expanded in the coming days.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • U.S
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

Covid-19The Viral Storm that Baits with the Navajo Indians in the United States

United StatesDonald Trump challenges the coronavirus and anti-racists with a visit to Mount Rushmore

The European Medicines Agency gives the go-ahead for remdesivir, the first drug to treat coronavirus

See links of interest

  • News
  • Programming
  • Translator
  • Calendar
  • Horoscope
  • Classification
  • League calendar
  • Films
  • Themes
  • Real Sociedad - Granada CF
  • Real Madrid - Alavés, live
  • Norwich City - West Ham United
  • Watford - Newcastle United
  • Real Valladolid - Barcelona