More than 200 inmates are being isolated under medical quarantine at Polk Correctional Institution in Polk City, and one has tested positive for COVID-19
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POLK CITY – As COVID-19 erupted in some Florida jails, the Polk Correctional Institution has been an exception.
That could be changing. In the first indication of a possible outbreak at the Polk City facility, the Florida Department of Corrections included 235 inmates in medical quarantine Monday.
So far, only seven inmates have been screened for COVID-19, according to the DOC report. One has tested positive.
Inmates are placed in medical quarantine and separated from the general population because they may have had close contact with someone who has tested positive or exhibited symptoms of an infectious disease, DOC says. Inmates in medical quarantine are monitored by health services personnel and receive temperature checks twice a day.
If an inmate begins to experience symptoms of COVID-19, prison staff will place him in medical isolation and perform a test, according to DOC guidelines.
No inmate at Polk Correctional was placed in medical isolation on Monday. Seven inmates were in security quarantine, confined separately because they were recently transferred to the facility. Inmates in security quarantine have shown no symptoms of COVID-19, DOC says, and are monitored by health personnel before being transferred to the general population.
Polk Correctional, a men’s-only adult facility, has about 1,500 inmates, the DOC said.
The figures are updated daily. The number of prisoners in medical quarantine at Polk Correctional increased from 175 to 235 with Monday’s update.
“Inmates enter and exit security quarantine, medical quarantine and medical isolation on an ongoing basis, as instructed by health services personnel (DOC),” deputy communications director Rob Klepper said by email. “These statistics are updated daily and are a snapshot of the situation at the time the information was reported.”
A staff member tested positive for COVID-19 in April, the DOC previously reported. According to DOC guidelines, an employee diagnosed with COVID-19 cannot return to work until he is fully recovered, as documented by a physician.
The COVID-19 outbreaks have affected several prisons in Florida, with more than 100 inmates testing positive at nine facilities. The worst example is the Homestead Correctional Institution in South Miami, where 302 inmates and 35 staff members have tested positive.
Statewide, 3,317 inmates and 438 prison employees have so far been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Gary White can be contacted at [email protected] or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @ garywhite13.
