CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on Friday said Attorney General William Barr has assured him that no new inmates will be transferred to the Gilmer and Hazelton federal prisons during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Democrat senator made the announcement after one of the 124 inmates sent to the Federal Correctional Institution at Gilmer tested positive for the virus earlier this week.
“I am pleased that AG Barr has heard our concerns and will be making changes that will help FCC Hazelton and FCI Gilmer slow the spread of COVID-19 in their facilities,” Manchin said in a news release.
A voicemail and email left with the federal Bureau of Prisons were not immediately returned. A message left on the U.S. Department of Justice website was not immediately returned.
Local and federal politicians representing West Virginia opposed any inmate transfers into the state.
Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal has said 10 sites across the country with available bed space were identified to house new inmates, a move to relieve overcrowding. Carvajal said inmates who don’t test positive for the virus after a 14-day quarantine will then be transported to their designated prisons.
It wasn’t immediately known when inmates would be sent to Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Sue Allison said last week that “no further movement to quarantine sites is scheduled at this time.”
The inmates had been screened and had their temperatures checked several times, including before boarding their flight, after landing and after arriving at the Gilmer prison in Glenville. They were not tested for COVID-19 during the trip and they wore protective masks, Bureau of Prisons spokesman Scott Taylor said in an email Monday evening.
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