Tennessee has begun to ramp up its COVID-19 testing for prison staff and inmates, but is not considering early release of prisoners to lower the prison population as a means to stop the spread.
Gov. Bill Lee intends to have every inmate and member of prison staff in the state under the Tennessee Department of Correction tested for COVID-19 as part of his increased testing plan.
“Our unified command group announced that we’ve made the decision to begin mass testing at all Tennessee state prisons,” Lee said. “We believe that we are the first state in the country to take this action. Thanks to our increased testing capacity, we’ll test all inmates and staff statewide in order to take the appropriate actions to safeguard the health of these individuals.”
Late last week, Tennessee saw a jump in COVID-19 cases in prisons after mass testing at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility in Hartsville confirmed 1,246 cases, 22 of which were staff. The cases account for 54 percent of inmates and 12 percent of staff, while 98 percent were asymptomatic.
Positive and negative test groups are separated into different housing units, and prisoners are taken to appropriate hospitals or medical facilities when necessary. Prisoners who show minor symptoms, such as cough and fever, stay in the prison with regular monitoring. Prisoners who are asymptomatic also have regular monitoring and are tested daily for symptoms.
“TDOC has put extensive protocols in place to address those who present with symptoms, which includes immediate quarantine and isolation,” said Robert Reburn, the east Tennessee public information officer for the Tennessee Department of Correction. “We’ve also formalized a schedule to ensure cleaning and disinfection of high touch areas multiple times per day.”
These high touch areas include common workspaces, toilet seats, light switches, security keys, phones, handrails and other areas.
Reburn said the department’s prisons are not overcrowded and there is not currently any consideration to release any prisoners early or to provide alternative options for low-level offenders, such as house arrest.
Hedy Weinberg, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said the state’s actions are not enough and Lee should use his authority to reduce the prison population.
“Governor Lee should use his broad powers as set out in the Tennessee State Constitution and under state law to decrease incarcerated populations,” Weinberg wrote in an email. “Specifically, we are calling on the governor to reduce the state prison population by safely releasing individuals 1) whose sentence would end in the next year, 2) who are currently being held on a technical supervision violation, and 3) who are especially vulnerable if infected by COVID-19 and have sentences that would end in the next two years. In addition, we ask that he fund re-entry programs that can support those individuals returning to our communities so that they have a range of available re-entry services they can access.”
Weinberg said the plan to test all inmates is a step in the right direction, but the ACLU still is hearing reports of inadequate social distancing and not enough access to soap, hand sanitizer and personal protective equipment.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported Monday the state has 13,571 COVID-19 cases, including 219 deaths. There have been 6,081 recoveries and 211,443 tests conducted.
COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus. The disease has caused at least 69,195 deaths in the U.S., with more than 1.2 million confirmed cases in the country. COVID-19 symptoms appear within two to 14 days after exposure and include fever, cough, difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell.
