Justice Dept Watchdog Reviewing Prisons for Virus Safety

The Justice Department’s inspector general will check Bureau of Prisons facilities to ensure they are following best practices to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus after hundreds of federal inmates tested positive for the virus.

The review announced Wednesday comes as the federal prison system struggles with a growing number of coronavirus cases and complaints from inmates, advocacy groups and correction officers about how officials are handling the pandemic among their 122 facilities.

Attorney General William Barr recently sent some of his closest advisers to federal prisons identified as coronavirus hot spots, including FCC Oakdale in Louisiana, where six inmates have died, a Justice Department official said.

The attorney general’s counselors were sent to observe the conditions on the ground firsthand and report back to Barr. They also visited FCI Elkton in Ohio, where five inmates have died, and FCC Butner, a prison complex in North Carolina that has seen four inmate deaths, and are expected to visit other hot spot prisons in the near future, the official said. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Health officials have been warning for more than a decade about the dangers of epidemics in jails and prisons, which are ideal environments for virus outbreaks.

As of Tuesday, 446 federal inmates and 248 Bureau of Prisons staff members had tested positive for the virus. Fifteen infected inmates have died at federal prisons across the U.S. since late March.

The inspector general’s office is conducting what it described as a “series of remote inspections” at Bureau of Prisons facilities, as well as residential re-entry centers, commonly known as halfway houses, and prisons that are contracted to hold federal inmates. The review is meant to ensure the agency is complying with the government’s guidance and best practices to prevent, manage and contain a coronavirus outbreak behind bars, according to a posting on the watchdog’s website.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons said the agency welcomed the remote inspections.

“The Bureau of Prisons is working hard to prevent, contain, and mitigate the spread of this global pandemic in its correctional settings, and we look forward to the OIG’s assessment of these efforts,” spokesman Justin Long said in a statement.