GA prisons employee contracts COVID-19 amid calls to release non-violent offenders
A Georgia Department of Corrections employee has tested positive for coronavirus – the first confirmed case within any of the state’s 34 prisons.
Prison officials declined to say at which prison the employee worked.
Experts say the virus could wreak havoc inside Georgia’s massive detention facilities, which were not designed with social distancing in mind. Additionally, many prisoners are in poor health due to their sedentary lifestyles and harmful habits.
So far, none have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the DOC. It’s unclear if any have been tested, or would even have access to the proper testing.
“They are playing Russian roulette with everyone's lives,” said Kimberly Smith, whose husband is an inmate at Montgomery State Prison.
She said the DOC should immediately reveal where the employee worked.
The ACLU has called on the DOC and local jails to release low-level offenders and those incarcerated awaiting trial because they could not afford cash bail.
"People in custody cannot protect themselves,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia. “This situation makes it even more urgent for state and local officials to implement procedures to protect all people who are in our prisons and jails from being exposed to and contracting the COVID-19 virus.”
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