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Two federal facilities currently have more than 600 cases of COVID-19.
• 5 min read
On Location: April 16, 2021
Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Days before Brandon Bernard was put to death Thursday at Federal Correctional Institute, Terre Haute, in Indiana, eight members of the execution team tested positive for COVID-19, according to a court filing intended to stop the execution. Specifically, six team members tested positive within approximately one week from their return home, Rick Winter, regional counsel for the Bureau of Prison s North Central region testified in court documents. An additional two staff members tested positive more than one week after returning home.
Feds sued over prison attack that killed sex offender, hurt 2 others
Detroit Two federal prison inmates and the estate of a third are suing the government, claiming officials at a Monroe County lockup failed to prevent a 2019 attack on the sex offenders, one of whom was stomped and stabbed to death.
Christian Maire, Michal Figura and Craig Evans were attacked in January 2019 in the East Unit of The Federal Correctional Institution, Milan. Maire was stomped and stabbed repeatedly with a shank before being thrown down a flight of stairs, prosecutors said.
Figura and Evans survived the attack, although the lawsuit, which does not specify monetary damages sought, claims they suffered psychological damage.
Paula Reed Ward
Pa. Department of Corrections
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Jails and prisons across Pennsylvania are being overwhelmed by the spread of covid-19, and advocates for the incarcerated population fear it will get worse before it gets better.
As the numbers skyrocketed this week, the state Department of Corrections reported that a 77-year-old inmate with pre-existing conditions died on Thursday at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette a prison that currently has few cases. There have been 39 inmate deaths within the DOC since covid began.
Dec 11, 2020
Johnstown is geographically in the middle of the worst per capita outbreak of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania right now.
As of Friday, 13 counties had rates higher than 1,400 cases per 100,000 residents over the previous 14 days, according to spotlightpa.org. Eight of them were in a contiguous path going from Clarion to Fulton with Jefferson, Clearfield, Cambria, Blair, Somerset and Bedford counties in between.
Cambria was the third highest county in Pennsylvania with 2,070 per 100,000 during those days. Bedford and Somerset were fifth and sixth, respectively with 1,643 and 1,615. In comparison, the United States was seeing about 830 cases per 100,000 people over the same time period, per covid19.big-
FLORENCE Calling the strain on correctional officers “ridiculous,” a union vice president is speaking out about short-staffing issues that worsened during the coronavirus pandemic at the four-prison Federal Bureau of Prisons complex near Florence.
“We have a logistical nightmare,” said Christopher Tyndall, a correctional officer who has worked at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution for 16 years. As vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1169 union, which represents employees at the complex, he is allowed to speak out about staffing issues.
“Obviously morale is down because of staffing issues. Mandated overtime is affecting our health, sanity and marriages,” Tyndall explained.