Nearly 15 violations were issued and the prison was fined a total of $ 421,880, one of the highest penalties issued by the state for Covid-19 violations.
“The San Quentin State Prison has made many improvements and has corrected several of the quotes in the eight months since Cal-OSHA visited the institution. The visits took place in June and July last, and we worked with representatives of Cal-OSHA during the pandemic to ensure that regulations are enforced and concerns resolved quickly, “the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.
Employees and inmates were given N-95 masks for public health recommendations, according to the statement. The correction department also demanded that employees wear masks in all 35 prisons.
San Quentin, north of San Francisco, witnessed one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in California’s prison system last summer.
When Covid-19 spread within the California Institution for Men in Chino in May, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Correctional Health Services (CCHCS) decided to move some detainees to facilities that were not experiencing outbreaks.
A total of 122 detainees were transferred to San Quentin on May 30, leading to a public health disaster, said the inspector general’s report.
In the three months following the transfers, the number of Covid-19 cases rose to more than 2,200 among its approximately 3,300 detainees, and 28 detainees died of Covid-19 complications, according to the report.
Of the 122 detainees who arrived from Chino, officials say, 91 tested positive and two died of complications from Covid-19.
“Our analysis concluded that the efforts of CCHCS and the department to prepare and carry out transfers were deeply flawed and put the health and lives of thousands of people and prisoners at risk,” the report said.
The state inspector general said the authorities ignored the concerns raised by the health team before the transfers, including an email from a supervising nurse at the California Institute for Men asking if detainees needed to be tested for the virus because some have not been tested for almost a month.
Prison health staff conducted verbal and thermal tests on several detainees, the report says, but it was too early to determine whether they showed symptoms of Covid-19 when they boarded buses that would take them to San Quentin and a smaller prison in Corcoran .
The report also indicates that the number of detainees on buses was higher than previously recommended for social detachment, and that prison authorities did not perform contract tracking when some of the transferred detainees tested positive for the virus.
In a joint statement, the California Department of Corrections and California Correctional Health Services acknowledged that “some mistakes were made in the process of these transfers”, but there were many factors that contributed to the need for transfers that were not reflected in the report.
The agencies said they had implemented a number of changes, including increasing testing, isolation and quarantine spaces and the use of personal protective equipment.
Since these measures were implemented, the statement says, “there have been no outbreaks attributed to transfers of institutions”.
“Our first priority is to ensure the health and safety of all who live and work in state prisons and surrounding communities. We will continue to work in collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure that we are doing everything we can for the people in our care. during and beyond the pandemic, “the statement said.
“As far as Covid-19 is concerned, this is a crime scene. This place should have a spotlight and a yellow ribbon wrapped around it,” said Larry Jerome Williams.
“I was not sentenced to death – I was sentenced to five years and four months,” he added.
The number of coronavirus infections has since declined in San Quentin, but has risen at other facilities in recent months, as authorities try to control rampant spread across the state.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 47,826 cases and almost 200 deaths reported in state units, according to state data. As of Thursday, there were 1,854 detainees in custody who tested positive for the virus.
Steve Almasy of CNN contributed to this report.