By Matt Kawahara
San Francisco Chronicle
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — The coronavirus has reached San Quentin State Prison, where more than a dozen inmates have been infected by the virus, according to state prison officials.
As of Sunday, there were 14 inmates at San Quentin with active cases of the virus, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website.
San Quentin, the oldest penitentiary in California and site of the state’s only Death Row, had no cases among inmates until reporting its first on June 1, according to the corrections department. The number rose to eight on June 2 and 14 on June 3.
In an email, a corrections department spokeswoman wrote the department recently transferred inmates who were “at high-risk of infection” from the California Institution of Men in Chino — the site of one of the prison system’s largest outbreaks — to other prisons, including San Quentin.
“While the inmates were tested and medically evaluated before and after the transfers, four of those transfers have tested positive at San Quentin and one at Corcoran State Prison,” corrections department spokeswoman Dana Simas wrote in the email.
“These inmates were not exposed to the general population, and are currently isolated per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. We have suspended transfers out of CIM while we review this situation, and will continue to ensure the safety and wellness of our inmates and staff to the best of our abilities.”
A state prison population report shows San Quentin held 3,587 inmates as of Wednesday — down from 3,988 in March but still at 116.4% of its designed capacity of 3,082. As of Sunday, 521 inmates at San Quentin had been tested for the virus.
Six employees at San Quentin have also tested positive for the virus and since returned to work, according to the corrections department.
Large-scale outbreaks have emerged at three state prisons. Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe (Riverside County) now houses the state system’s largest outbreak with 988 confirmed inmate cases — more than six times as many as it was reporting May 26. The prison had 985 inmates with active cases in custody as of Sunday, according to the corrections department.
Avenal State Prison in Kings County has confirmed 839 inmate cases with 670 active as of Sunday and 159 that have been resolved, according to the corrections department. Both have surpassed the California Institution of Men in total cases.
The Chino prison has confirmed 711 total cases with 475 active cases in custody and 207 resolved. Twelve inmates at the Chino prison have died after testing positive for the virus, accounting for all inmate deaths reported by the state’s prison system.
Two state prison employees have also died after testing positive for the virus, according to the corrections department. A correctional officer at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco (Riverside County), Danny Mendoza, died May 30 after testing positive, the corrections department reported. A plant operations worker at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, whose identity was not released, died June 3, officials said.
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