Incarcerated person in Malone dies of COVID, nearly 150 cases at Franklin Correctional
An incarcerated person in Malone has died due to COVID. The NY State Department of Corrections reported the death at Franklin Correctional...
Feb 04, 2021 — An incarcerated person in Malone has died due to COVID. The NY State Department of Corrections reported the death at Franklin Correctional Facility yesterday.
The prison is experiencing the largest coronavirus outbreak in the state right now, with 147 active cases and 27 tests pending.
Criminal justice advocates have been pushing Governor Cuomo to vaccinate inmates and pass parole reform bills that would reduce prison populations.
“COVID is exploding in New York’s prisons, people are dying, and Governor Cuomo and DOCCS are doing nothing to stop it," said Jose Saldana, Director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign. "Public health experts warned this would happen if the state did not vastly reduce prison populations."
According to state officials, the prison population has dropped by 10,900 since January 2020, of which more than 3,500 were released early specifically due to their risk of contracting COVID. Statewide, 33,262 people are incarcerated in NYS prisons.
The death this week at Franklin Correctional is the second fatality in a North Country prison during the pandemic. The first was at Clinton Correctional in Dannemora.
To date, 31 people incarcerated in state prisons across New York have died due to COVID and more than 5,100 have contracted the virus.
