The Bledsoe County Prison COVID-19 Outbreak Is One of the Worst in the Country

The COVID-19 outbreak at Bledsoe County Correctional Complex is one of the largest clusters of infection in the United States, and has made the small East Tennessee county one of the worst hot spots in the country, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

Out of 10 large clusters highlighted by the Times, eight are in prisons or jails.

The Tennessee Department of Correction's most recent figures, updated on April 25, show 576 positive cases at the prison with 56 tests still pending. Nearly 25 percent of the 2,327 prisoners who have been tested there have received positive results. Attorneys with clients at the prison tell the Scene that lockdowns have limited prisoners' ability to make phone calls to family members and that even legal calls are being restricted in order to minimize movement inside.

Statewide, there are 669 prisoners who have tested positive so far, the vast majority of whom were asymptomatic according to the TDOC. But even as the state aggressively ramps up testing, almost 90 percent of Tennessee's prison population remains untested.

Smaller clusters have been found at other Tennessee prisons as well. Turney Center Industrial Complex in Middle Tennessee and the Northwest Correctional Complex each have recorded 38 prisoners with the illness.

https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/21130409/the-bledsoe-county-prison-covid19-outbreak-is-one-of-the-worst-in-the-country
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