State frees prisoners, including some from Grant, Adams counties

The state Department of Corrections has released hundreds of inmates from state prisons in recent days in response to a state Supreme Court order to protect the health of the incarcerated during the coronavirus outbreak.

Over a dozen inmates and at least 21 Department of Corrections employees have tested positive for COVID-19, most of whom have been at the Monroe Corrections Complex. Inmates from that facility were the plaintiffs who filed the emergency motion asking the state’s highest court to intervene.

Columbia Legal Services, which represents the plaintiffs, stated in a press release last week that the releases completed were “insufficient” to protect inmate health, calling on the court to appoint a court monitor to oversee the state’s compliance with the order.

Two of the inmates released are from Adams County. Fifteen are Grant County residents, according to the state Department of Corrections.