Dept. of Corrections begins vaccinating staff at Deer Ridge, other state prisons
KTVZ file
Inmates in high priority on standby, if doses are available
MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Oregon Department of Corrections held its first vaccination clinic Wednesday for staff at the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution near Madras, the same day an Oregon State Penitentiary inmate who tested positive for COVID-19 died at the Salem prison, the 22
nd state prison inmate to die with the virus.
The inmate who died at the Salem prison was between 30 and 40 years old, but the state did not release further details, consistent with their information release in previous similar deaths, “to balance the desire for transparency with our legal obligation to protect personal health information.
For the third straight week, health officials reported a drop in COVID-19 cases in Oregon. However, the percentage of positive tests last week increased.
Dec 31, 2020 4:56 PM EDT
Each week when about 10,000 people are released from state and federal prisons around the country, their successful reintegration into civilian life may depend on how quickly they can get valid government-issued photo identification. It can be a major hurdle, and the process to get an ID has become even more cumbersome in some communities during the pandemic.
When people are incarcerated, especially for long periods of time, the government ID they had when entering prison like a driver’s license may no longer be valid when they are released. Yet this small piece of plastic is needed for many of life’s basic necessities like housing, employment, medical care, banking, and, for those who need it, government benefit programs like food stamps.
Pandemic, protests & fire December 30 2020
The Madras Pioneer looks back at the top five regional news stories of the year 2020
COVID-19. The pandemic. It defined much of life in Jefferson County and the entire planet in 2020. And it s not over. As we race to get vaccines in arms, we brace for what are expected to be numbing infection and death rates in the early months of 2021.
COVID and its economic and societal impacts touched everyone in 2020, and played a role in nearly all aspects of life. But the year also brought a once-a-century-type windstorm to the county in May and saw one of the largest wildfires in Oregon history spark in August on the Warm Springs Reservation.