WORCESTER, Mass. — Until very recently, the Worcester County House of Correction could boast of no cases of COVID-19.
But now that number stands at one.
And authorities say they know where it came from: an inmate who was released early to protect him from the coronavirus.
“If there was the definition of irony, I think that would be it,” Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis told me Thursday.
The State’s Highest Court recently ruled that prisoners can petition for early release, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, if they meet certain conditions.
This inmate (who is not named), was arrested for allegedly violating a restraining order and was awaiting trial, successfully argued for release.
But shortly after getting back out on the streets, he was arrested again, this time for assault.
At the courthouse, the inmate was sick, sent to the hospital, and tested positive for COVID-19.
He is now in isolation at the Worcester County House of Correction, the only inmate diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus.
Worcester County Sheriff tells me the House of Correction was Covid free, until an inmate who was released to protect him from Coronavirus, got arrested again, and brought Covid-19 into the jail. My story @boston25 4pm pic.twitter.com/QYFoCDun14
— Bob Ward Boston 25 (@Bward3) May 7, 2020
“So, we have our first COVID case, brought in by an inmate who was released from our facility, to keep him from getting COVID. He actually got COVID, and now he’s back in our facility,” Sheriff Evangelidis told me.
The Sheriff is clearly frustrated.
He tells me, for weeks, the House of Correction’s protocols of cleaning and testing kept the facility free of coronavirus.
Evangelidis tells me, his staff has proven it can protect inmates and staff from COVID-19 from the inside, where, he believes, the inmates are safer than out on the streets.
“Sometimes I feel this is more about a social idea about people being released from prison, rather than the safety and welfare and health of an inmate,” Evangelidis said.
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