Report cites causes of ‘public health disaster’ inside California prisons

State inspector says transfer designed to protect inmates killed them instead

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - A new report from California's inspector general says misguided attempts to protect inmates from coronavirus in prison, actually causes a spike in deaths at another facility.

Prison officials transferred some inmates from the California Institution for Men, east of Los Angeles, to San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco to prevent them from contracting the virus.

However, outdated tests failed to show that some of relocated prisoners were already infected. Two of them later died.

The inspector general's report said the transfer ultimately led to the deaths of 28 inmates, and a corrections officer. It also resulted in 75% of the inmates contracting coronavirus.

The report describes the incident as "a public health disaster." Corrections officials insist they had the best of intentions when they made the transfers.