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. Email to a Friend 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