A COVID-19 outbreak is emerging through the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault, where one inmate who tested positive has died and another is in critical condition.
Adrian Raymaar Keys, 43, of St. Paul, died at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday night. Keys had tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month. However, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections said his cause of death is pending the autopsy results.
Keys was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison in 2018 for raping a teenage girl. He was also convicted of second-degree murder in 1995.
Efforts to reach the Keys family were unsuccessful.
If Keys is found to have died of COVID-19, he would be the first person incarcerated in Minnesota to die from the virus.
Keys requested an early release from prison due to COVID-19 concerns, but was denied.
Two other Faribault inmates are hospitalized with the virus, one of them in critical condition. More than 200 inmates at the prison have tested positive for COVID-19, the highest count of any Minnesota correctional facility. More than 330 inmates across the state have tested positive.
The first positive case in Faribault prison was confirmed on June 3. The state recently began evaluating all prison staff and prisoners for the virus. As of Thursday, it had evaluated 9,704 inmates and 2,685 employees.
More than 60 staff members across the state prison system have tested positive for the virus, and four require hospitalization. All four have been released.
In light of the pandemic, the state prison system has been taking precautions, such as limiting visits, providing masks, and establishing handwashing stations. Prison staff also implemented “Stay with the Unit” plans to help prevent the spread.
IMMATES, FAMILIES HAVE WORRIED
Prisons across the country have seen outbreaks since the coronavirus began to spread. One in Ohio reported more than 2,000 cases.
Family members have protested for the release of the inmates, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a lawsuit alleging that the state Department of Corrections did not “fulfill (its) legal and moral duty” to support the inmates. from Moose Lake safe from COVID-19 after a smaller outbreak there.
The agency then responded that it was working with the state Department of Health to address concerns about the virus and that it had been discussing early releases.
“The agency continues efforts to implement early work and parole processes that are within the parameters of current Minnesota law,” Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said in a statement.
ACLU REPORT GIVES MINNESOTA D-MINUS PRISONS
The ACLU and the Penitentiary Policy Initiative released a report from 50 states this week rating states’ responses to COVID-19 in jails and prisons. The report gave Minnesota a D-minus rating. No other state received a higher rating than a D-minus. Most received an F or F-plus. The neighboring states of Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota received an F-plus rating, while South Dakota received an F.
The report looked at various criteria, including whether jails and prisons received adequate supplies and evidence, as well as whether the state was accelerating the release of vulnerable prisoners or those near the end of their sentences to prevent the spread of the virus.
