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Massachusetts High Court Hears Arguments On COVID-19 Testing In Jails

Razor wire on top of the perimeter fence at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, Massachusetts.
File Photo
/
The Republican / Masslive
Razor wire on top of the perimeter fence at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, Massachusetts.

Public interest lawyers are asking the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to force all jails in the state to regularly test inmates and staff for COVID-19, even without symptoms.

The court hears arguments Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed in December, charges sheriffs in all 13 counties with failing to protect inmates from COVID-19 through insufficient testing. 

Jessie Rossman of the ACLU of Massachusetts said even though the jails do offer vaccination, many inmates are still at risk. That's because they may not be vaccinated before they arrive and many staff are refusing the vaccine.

"The houses of corrections can't manage what they don't measure," Rossman said. "And by failing to conduct nonsymptomatic testing of incarcerated people and staff, the houses of corrections are choosing to put a blindfold over their own eyes to the amount of infection that they have within their facilities. And that prevents them from being able to protect people who are in their custody."

While Rossman said infections are lower statewide as a result of vaccinations, there are also fewer public health restrictions now, which means staff and inmates may have more opportunity to bring the virus into the jails.

Rossman said only five counties, including Franklin and Hampden, conduct COVID-19 testing of all inmates when they first enter the jail.

The lawyer representing the sheriffs has said the policy of testing only symptomatic staff and inmates — or close contacts — works to keep infection rates down. 

The lawsuit on testing follows a previous complaint from spring 2020 asking the jails to release some inmates to reduce crowding. At that time, the court ordered the jails to keep track of all positive COVID-19 test results.

Karen Brown is a radio and print journalist who focuses on health care, mental health, children’s issues, and other topics about the human condition. She has been a full-time radio reporter for NEPM since 1998.
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