LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – It is “very unlikely” that hundreds of inmates at a western Kentucky prison will be able to avoid contracting the COVID-19 virus given that about 400 staffers and inmates have already tested positive, a national expert testified in Louisville on Monday.
“It’s very likely they are getting it and spreading it,” regardless of precautions taken by officials at Green River Correctional Complex, according to Dr. Frank LoVecchio, a public health and emergency medicine specialist. “It borders on impossible to isolate the 40 percent and hope the others don’t get it.”
The telephonic court testimony from LoVecchio, who is advising Arizona on the virus, was at least the second time in recent days he has been a witness for inmates at the Muhlenberg County prison who are asking judges to order their release because of the outbreak.
Attorneys for some inmates have filed lawsuits against Kevin Mazza, the Green River warden, asking judges to order their release as a result of “cruel and unusual punishment.”
On Monday, Assistant Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney Jason Moore told Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Annie O’Connell that Green River has made safety changes, including separating positive inmates into a different building.
The prison is using one building for inmates who have tested positive for the virus and another for those who have tested negative but have come into contact with those who have contracted COVID-19.
A third building is housing inmates who have underlying conditions that make them susceptible to the virus. The rest of the prison population is separated in a fourth building.
Moore said all of the 950 inmates have been tested, with 353 confirmed positive for the virus and three deaths.
LoVecchio said inmates need to be completely isolated, not quarantined with another sick inmate, and he noted that it is “very, very likely” a percentage of the inmates who tested negative actually do have the virus.
He testified that about one in five test results clearing inmates of the virus are likely “false negatives,” and they are spreading the virus through the building housing the healthy inmates.
He warned “you are going to get more deaths.”
The inmate making the request for release, Jon Booker, also testified on his own behalf, telling Judge O’Connell that he and his cellmate were tested for the virus on May 1. Booker said that while he tested negative, his cellmate was confirmed to have the virus.
Booker said he and his cellmate remained together for three more days before he was moved to a different cell where the previous occupant had tested positive.
He said the cell hadn’t been sanitized and that he cleaned it “as best I could” with soap and water. Booker said his new cellmate was also living with an inmate who tested positive.
Booker has served 16 years for murder and is scheduled to be released in 11 months, he said. His attorneys are asking that he be released on home incarceration.
“There is nothing Mr. Booker can do to protect himself,” attorney Rob Eggert said. “It’s highly likely that Mr. Booker is going to have the virus.”
O’Connell seemed more receptive to the argument than previous judges have been. She asked the prosecutor multiple questions.
For example, when Moore told the judge there were other remedies besides releasing inmates, she asked him what they were. He said she could order the prison to ensure prison conditions were safe.
And what if the prison can’t be made safe, the judge countered.
Moore said the judge could order inmates to be moved to another prison, but that that was not necessary. The prosecutor said the number of positive cases has dropped since changes were made.
But Eggert noted a prisoner died May 3 and “at some point there’s got to be a remedy for these people.” He told the judge she “could save lives.”
O’Connell said she would issue a ruling shortly.
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