Judge rejects latest request to release prisoners due to COVID-19
By Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff,Updated February 18, 2021, 6:00 p.m.
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The North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner.Lane Turner/Globe Staff
ruling
that although conditions inside the facilities âcontinue to deprive inmates of basic needs,â the state hasnât violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
âThe Court fully understands the consequences of any lapses in preventing the spread of a virus that has killed at least 19 prison inmates and over 15,000 Massachusetts residents,â Suffolk Superior Court Judge Robert L. Ullmann wrote in his order. âHowever, these lapses reflect sporadic mistakes and sporadic lack of sufficient attention to detail, which is far below the standard of deliberate indifference necessary to establish a constitutional violation.â
MCI-Norfolk. (Michael Norton/SHNS)
Two Massachusetts men, incarcerated at different state prisons, have died of COVID-19 in the past week. Six prisoners have died of the disease in the past three weeks.
The state Department of Correction said a man in his 60s who was being held at Old Colony Correctional Center was recently taken to the hospital for a medical emergency, where he later died. The DOC said the man had no known history of COVID, but tested positive for the disease at the hospital.
Another man in his 70s, who was being held at MCI-Norfolk, also died of the coronavirus this week. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks.
Advocates ask court to release inmates as COVID-19 sweeps through state prisons
Prisoner health conditions âworse now than at any time since the pandemic beganâ
By Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff,Updated December 24, 2020, 1:17 p.m.
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A view of MCI-Norfolk.Meredith Nierman/WGBH News
One of every six Massachusetts prison inmates â and hundreds of correctional workers â have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last six weeks, new figures show, underscoring prisonersâ vulnerability and spurring new efforts to free some of them.
Late Wednesday, lawyers in a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Correction made a dramatic plea in court filings to reduce the inmate population, sharing
Two Massachusetts prisoners, held in two separate facilities, died from COVID-19 this week, according to the state Department of Correction.
One man, in his 40s, had been held at MCI-Shirley, and was hospitalized for more than two weeks before he died Sunday. The other prisoner was in his 70s and had been in custody at MCI-Concord. He died at a local hospital Monday.
The deaths come as the virus is spiking throughout the state and correctional facilities. MCI-Concord has the highest number of active cases among prisoners with 159 men listed as testing positive. There are also 79 active case at MCI-Norfolk, nine at MCI-Shirley Medium, two at the North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner and one case each at MCI-Shirley Minimum, MCI-Cedar Junction, the Massachusetts Treatment Center and the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital Correctional Unit.