By Nolan Clay
The Oklahoman
SAYRE, Okla. — Seven state prison inmates and three employees may have died from COVID-19 complications, the Oklahoma Corrections Department reported Monday.
Fifteen inmates remained hospitalized Monday for COVID-19 symptoms. Seven of them were from the North Fork Correctional Center, a men’s facility in Sayre where almost 1,300 inmates were in quarantine.
The deaths are described in the latest online statistics as possibly related to COVID-19 pending a further determination by the state medical examiner’s office.
Five of the inmate fatalities were men — three from the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington, one from the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center and one from the William S. Key Correctional Center in Fort Supply.
The two women were from the hard-hit Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft. At one point, almost every inmate there had tested positive. On Monday, 58 inmates there were positive and 723 were recovered, according to the latest statistics.
Advocates, including mothers of inmates, rallied at the Capitol on Friday to bring public awareness to the situation at women’s prisons. One held a sign reading, “Stop Women’s Death Camp.”
At the top of their demands is that all the offenders at the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center and a women’s prison in McLoud be released or moved in order to properly quarantine.
“One more death is one too many,” former state Sen. Connie Johnson said at the rally. “And that’s why it’s important that the governor hear our voices, that the board of corrections hear our voices, that the state of Oklahoma understand why we are here, and do something.
“I can’t imagine what these women, and their families, are going through right now — the fear that it could be one of them next who dies.”
On Friday, corrections officials announced rapid response teams are being sent to “hot spots” to help wardens implement necessary steps to combat the spread of the virus.
“Our plans continue to evolve and improve as we learn more, and we are committed to providing safe environments and appropriate medical care for our inmates,” the Corrections Department director, Scott Crow, said.
Since the pandemic began, more than 2,600 state prison inmates have tested positive. Almost 1,000 were listed Monday as currently positive.
The staff fatalities involved an employee in administration, an employee at the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite and an employee at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The staff deaths prompted the Oklahoma Public Employees Association on Friday again to call for hazard pay from CARES Act funding for all employees at the state’s prisons.
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