Thomson prison staff, inmates test positive for COVID-19; exact numbers hard to pin down

THOMSON – Inmates and staff members at Thomson Prison have tested positive for COVID-19.

As recently as this morning, the Bureau of Prisons reported on its website three cases of Thomson inmates who tested positive for COVID-19, two of which still are active, and no staff members.

The Carroll County Health Department, however, Tuesday confirmed that staff have tested positive, although it did not have a specific number.

Inmates who test positive while at the prison are included in the health department's statistics, but inmates who test positive elsewhere and later are transferred to Thomson are not.

Staff members who test positive are counted in the counties in which they live.

Justin Long is a spokesman with the federal Bureau of Prisons Office of Public Affairs.

"We cannot require that staff members be tested for COVID-19," Long said in an email to Sauk Valley Media.

"However, for those staff that are presenting with symptoms or have been identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 diagnosed individual, given the critical role our staff play with regard to public safety, we have developed a letter for staff who are in close contact of a COVID-19 positive individual to provide to the local health department to ensure such persons receive priority COVID-19 testing."

Staff and contractors are required to undergo screening and a temperature check before entering a BOP facility, Long said

For the union representing staff members at Thomson, those measures do not go far enough.

"Local 4070 is disappointed that the staff members are not given the option to get tested at work and will have to go on their own time to get tested," American Federation of Government Employees Local 4070 President Jon Zumkehr said.

"We are also requesting hazard pay, and AFGE has a lawsuit fighting for hazard pay for federal workers."

Two inmates tested positive in Chicago before being transferred to Thomson.

Two others tested positive in June.

The BOP initially chose Thomson to be a quarantine site, a spot to hold inmates new to the federal prison system while awaiting test results, but that move drew criticism from elected officials and union leaders, and the bureau backed away from that plan.

Nationwide, 11,458 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March.

The BOP reports 1,378 inmates and 592 staff members with active COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, and an additional 9,957 inmates and 843 staff members who tested positive and have since recovered.

One staff member and 114 inmates have died of COVID-19.