Following 31 inmate deaths, SC prisons to spend about $1M in plan to battle COVID-19
Following more than 30 inmate deaths inside of South Carolina prisons, the Department of Corrections plans to spend nearly $1 million on air ionizers to slow the spread of COVID-19 within its facilities.
By December the upgrades will be installed into heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at correctional facilities, which have about 16,000 inmates and 4,600 employees, legislative documents say.
The ionizers make the COVID-19 particles heavier, knocking them to the ground. The particles also are more likely to get caught in conditioning filters where the virus will die, preventing it from moving around living, recreational and working areas, Department of Corrections officials said.
The Joint Bond Review Committee reviewed the project, expected to cost more than $926,000, on Tuesday.
About 2,200 state prisoners in South Carolina, about 13%, and nearly 500 prison employees, roughly 10%, have tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic.
The prison system has had positive cases pop up in places where inmates have had no contacts with known people who contracted COVID-19, indicating the virus is spreading through ventilation systems, DOC officials said.
“It was moving around the air conditioning system, and we started doing research to find out how to prevent that,” Corrections Director Bryan Stirling told The State.
According to the Department of Corrections, 572 inmates currently have COVID-19; 1,600 prisoners have recovered from the disease, and 31 inmates have died.
The Department of Corrections says 430 staff members have recovered from the disease, but there are 59 staff members currently with COVID-19. Two agency staff members have died from the disease.
The virus spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets in the air.
Congregate facilities such as prisons and nursing homes where people live in close proximity to one another are places of particular concern for spread of the coronavirus.
Because of the design of prisons, social distancing cannot take place, which creates a threat “to the health and safety of the inmate population and correctional office staff,” JBRC documents say.
Using ionizers is the latest precaution the agency is taking to slow the spread of COVID-19. The agency is having inmates and staff members wear masks, with correctional officers taking the additional precaution of face shields. DOC also checks temperatures, uses foggers to clean their facilities, and has inmates clean and disinfect their cells, Stirling said.
“I don’t know if you can kill this thing, but (the ionizers) clearly would limit the virus,” he said.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 1:19 PM.
