Nearly every inmate in Alaska’s largest prison has contracted Covid-19, as prisons have reached their highest positive cases this month.
A Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sarah Gallagher told the Anchorage Daily News that an estimated 1,115 of the 1,236 inmates in the Goose Creek correctional center tested positive.
The Correctional Center near Anchorage reported its first case of Covid-19 in November. As of Monday, 112 cases are considered active, Gallagher said. More than 40% of the total population of the prisoner contracted the disease and five prisoners died throughout the country.
Prisons are one of the most risky environments for the spread of infectious diseases because prisoners cannot have social distance and are dependent on the prison for health and safety.
By mid-December, new cases in prisons had reached their highest level since the test began in the spring, according to the Associated Press and the Marshall Project. Their data also showed that one in five U.S. and federal prisoners in the U.S. tested positive for Covid-19.
Of the more than 275,000 prisoners infected, more than 1,700 died. The total number of cases is probably higher because not every prisoner has been tested. Prison staff were also disproportionately affected by Covid-19.
In the US, 22% of the world’s prison population lives and public health experts have called for medically fragile and elderly prisoners, people nearing the end of their sentences, and low-risk individuals to be released. Advocates have also called for people who are locked up to be released because they cannot afford bail in cash.
However, the releases were slow. In the first three months of the pandemic, more than 10,000 federal prisoners were released on sympathy, but according to the AP and Marshall project, only 156 requests were approved.