No New Coronavirus Cases At Essex County Jail

MIDDLETON, MA — For the first time since weekly reported started in April, Essex County saw no new confirmed coronavirus cases at its three correctional facilities, according to the June 15 report.

Officials administered just one test at the Essex County Correctional Facility and none at the pre-release facility in Lawrence and the Women in Transition Center in Salisbury between June 8 and June 14. Since a court order in April, 74 inmates, 16 correctional officers and four staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus at the Middleton facility. There have been no positive tests at the other two facilities.

The number of inmates at the state's three correctional facilities in Essex County has dropped 19.9 percent to 939 from 1,126 on April 5, when a sweeping court order allowed the release of nonviolent offenders to slow the spread of the coronavirus. There were no releases under the order in the most recent report.

The ruling said people charged with most crimes should be released without bail "unless an unreasonable danger to the community would result, or the individual presents a very high risk of flight." The ruling lets people currently serving sentences of 60 days or fewer to file motions to have their sentences revised or revoked.

Across Massachusetts, 1,030 prisoners have been released from county jails under the order, including 62 in Essex County. The court order also said most inmates should be released on personal recognizance while awaiting trial, which factors into the 19.9 percent drop in Essex County's three holding facilities.

The ruling also ordered the Department of Corrections and parole board to speed up the process for paroling prisoners "and to identify other classes of inmates who might be able to be released by agreement of the parties, as well as expediting petitions for compassionate release."