2nd Washington State Penitentiary Inmate Dies Of COVID-19

TUMWATER, WA — A second inmate at Washington State Penitentiary has died after contracting the coronavirus.

According to a release from the Department of Corrections, the inmate had been suffering from COVID-19 symptoms and had earlier been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, but passed away on Dec. 31.

The death is the second due to COVID-19 at Washington State Penitentiary and the seventh death of an incarcerated person in DOC custody, according to KHQ. The sixth had happened just days prior, on Dec. 26.

Washington State Penitentiary's first death happened back in November, when 62-year-old Michael Cornethan died while receiving treatment for the coronavirus.

The coronavirus can be transmitted fairly easily over high-touch surfaces, and as such it is more dangerous indoors, and especially in confined spaces like prisons. As a result, advocates have been calling on state leaders to release inmates who are at the highest risk of infection. Some efforts have been successful, like in April when the state released roughly 300 inmates early, others have failed, like a lawsuit seeking an emergency release for thousands of inmates in at-risk group, which was rejected by the Washington Supreme Court last spring.

In their release announcing this most recent death, the Department of Corrections said they are doing what they can to limit transmission within Washington's prison system. Washington State Penitentiary has been quarantining living units in an attempt to limit transmissions, and the DOC says they and other prisons have been required to conform to an extensive COVID-19 screening and testing program.

According to the latest update to the DOC's COVID-19 dashboard, a total of 4,934 incarcerated people have been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Of those, 1,560 cases are still active. 873 DOC staff members have also had COVID-19, and two have died.