This Kentucky prison has 1,507 inmates. Half of them are infected with COVID-19.

Jan. 14—The Kentucky Department of Corrections is struggling with a massive COVID-19 outbreak at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex, the medium-security state prison in Morgan County.

As of Wednesday, the state reported that 728 inmates — roughly half of the inmate population of 1,507 — were actively infected, as were 80 prison employees. No deaths have been reported at the prison due to the coronavirus.

The outbreak began in mid-December, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb.

As with other Kentucky state prisons experiencing outbreaks, inmates are being segregated into different housing units based on whether they test positive or negative for the virus or have been directly exposed to someone who tested positive, Lamb said.

The prison is currently on lock-down to allow for mass testing and inmate housing segregation, she said.

"This is the first outbreak for inmates at EKCC," Lamb said, "and as we've done with our other facilities, we are closely monitoring the situation and working closely with the Department for Public Health to ensure that proper protocols are being followed."

Two other state prisons also faced mass COVID-19 outbreaks on Wednesday, both of them in Oldham County: Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, where 322 inmates and 16 staff were infected, and Roederer Correctional Complex, where 336 inmates and 21 staff were infected.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began 10 months ago, 39 state inmates and five state prison employees have died as a result of COVID-19, according to Department of Corrections data.

Overall, there have been 5,591 state inmate infections and 747 state prison employee infections reported since the pandemic began.

Separately, 16 inmates have died from COVID-19 at federal prisons inside Kentucky. As of Wednesday, there were mass COVID-19 outbreaks reported at the federal prisons in Lexington, with 444 inmates infected, and Manchester, with 145 inmates infected.

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