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California issues largest COVID-19 penalty to San Quentin State Prison after deadly outbreak

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  • California issues largest COVID-19 penalty to San Quentin State Prison after deadly outbreak

    FEBRUARY 04, 2021 03:24 PM,
    UPDATED 3 HOURS 57 MINUTES AGO
    BY ANDREW SHEELER

    San Quentin State Prison faces California’s single largest penalty yet over workplace safety violations contributing to the spread of COVID-19, the state announced on Thursday.

    The prison faces a $421,880 fine stemming from a June inspection by regulators from Division of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA.

    Cal/OSHA also handed a $39,600 penalty to Avenal State Prison for violations that were found following inspections that occurred as a result of COVID-19 outbreak there.

    The citations come just days after the state Office of the Inspector General released a scathing report, criticizing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California Correctional Health Care Services for risking the lives of thousands of inmates and prison staff by rushing the transfer of dozens of medically vulnerable inmates to two facilities, one of which was San Quentin.

    By the end of August, more than 2,230 San Quentin inmates and nearly 280 staff members had become infected with COVID-19; 28 inmates and one staff member died from complications related to the virus, according to the inspector general report.


    __________________________________________________ ______________________________________

    Office of the Inspector General Report
    Independent Prison Oversight
    February 2021

    COVID-19 REVIEW SERIES

    Part Three

    California Correctional Health Care Services and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Caused a Public Health Disaster at San Quentin State Prison When They Transferred Medically Vulnerable Incarcerated Persons From the California Institution for Men Without Taking Proper Safeguards

    ... Our review found that the e orts by CCHCS and the department to prepare for and execute the transfers were deeply awed and risked the health and lives of thousands of incarcerated persons and staff . Insistence by CCHCS and the department to execute the transfers and subsequent pressure to meet a tight deadline resulted in the California Institution for Men ignoring concerns from health care staff and transferring the medically vulnerable incarcerated persons, even though the vast majority had not been recently tested for COVID-19. With outdated test results, the prison had no way to know whether any of the incarcerated persons were currently infected with the virus. According to email conversations that we reviewed, a California Institution for Men health care executive explicitly ordered that the incarcerated persons not be retested the day before the transfers began, and multiple CCHCS and departmental executives were aware of the outdated nature of the tests before the transfers occurred.
    ...


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