OVERCROWDING IN ONE MASS. PRISON – HAS LED TO COVID OUTBREAK

GARDNER – On Friday December 18th, 2020, all prisoners in the Thompson 3 housing unit at NCCI-Gardner were tested for the coronavirus after 2 prisoners earlier in the week felt sick and tested positive for Covid-19. The results of that testing surprised even the most cynical Department of Corrections staff.

Out of the 130 prisoners who were tested, 120 tested positive. An average of over 90%. This is a worst-case scenario for the DOC. The prison administration found it easier to remove the 10 prisoners who tested negative out of the unit and put them into quarantine. Testing has been on going in the rest of the Thompson building this past weekend.

Thompson 3 is currently operating at over 30% design capacity. The count is roughly 130 prisoners in an area that was meant to only house 100 prisoners. Sadly, there are other areas in the prison that are over design capacity even more than Thompson 3. Prison advocates have been banging the drum on the risk on this overcrowding for the last 8 months with calls to decrease the prison population. Those calls have fell on deaf ears. The DOC has shown that they would rather see prisoners die before they let out the most vulnerable.

This incident is just one more on the list of why there needs to be an oversight committee for the DOC. With a budget of over $750 million dollars, $110,000.00 per prisoner, it begs the question, why are our states prisons operating so badly?