The Mississippi Center for Justice and partners filed a federal lawsuit last week. According to the lawsuit, officials at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County and the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Greene County are not executing preventative measures required to reduce transmission and identify cases of COVID-19.
Paloma Wu with the Center for Justice says some people showing coronavirus symptoms aren’t being immediately isolated or tested.
“We have evidence that they’ve been given cold medicine and sent back to the unit. Or, getting antibiotics. But that’s not a cure so people will die just as easily with or without cold treatment if they have coronavirus and they’ll spread it to everybody else,” said Wu.
The lawsuit filed by the Center for Justice is on behalf of the approximately 6,000 incarcerated men and women housed at the two facilities. It also seeks to support a subclass of people who have disabilities that put them at increased risk of contracting coronavirus, suffering severely, and dying.
As of Monday, the Mississippi Department of Corrections website showed 15 coronavirus cases in the inmate population - none at the two facilities listed in the lawsuit. Eight staff members systemwide have tested positive. Correction officials say they've given masks to all inmates and staff to help control the spread of the virus. In a statement, the department of corrections says it cannot comment on pending litigation.
