Prisons become petri dishes in pandemic

The surge in covid-19 cases in the lockup

The rest of the work week... thank you for joining us for kimt news 3 at 10?

"* i'm katie lange.

And i'm george mallet.

First tonight, when it comes to covid?

"*19, prisons are virs rich petri dishes.

Prisoners in the lockup are largely unable to physically distance.

At the federal correctional institution in waseca ?

"* 89 inmates and 2 staff members have tested positive for the virus.

Kimt news 3's isabella basco spoke with the son of an inmate diagnosed with covid?

"*19.

Isabella?

At one point ?

"* 7 inmates tested positive ?

"* here at the federal medical center.

While that's not the case in rochester anymore ?

"* the federal correctional institution waseca is experiencing an increase of inmates testing positive ?

"* oe family member is speaking out.

Xxx <nat > "this is one of the most drastic cases we've seen where it's directly affected a lot of people."

Christopher kasowski is the son of cassandra kasowski.

She's an inmate at fci waseca ?

"* servig time for a nonviolent drug offense.

Cassandra tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"she's previously battled cancer, she has immunity deficiencies, her immune system doesn't combat sickness very well."

Cassandra is experiencing fatigue.... a stuffy nose and loss of taste.

"really ?

"* the biggest thing ?

"* she's just scared ?

"* she doesn't know what to do and doesn't know how this is going to affect her ?

"* without a rel plan in place to help her."

Attorney janeanne murray has long represented inmates at the lockup.

She'd like convicts who are fighting the virus to get some sympathy.

"i think that it could really make us rethink the value of imprisoning so many, whether we can come up with alternatives to incarceration."

Christopher is eager to see incarceration reform.

"if we could lower the population a little bit in the prisons, we would be able to isolate these people better and have more space for them, you can't expect students to be spread out in a classroom 6 ft.

Apart but us to pack inmates together like sardines."

"individuals in prison are human beings ?

"* tht could well be our cousin and our sibling and our parent and ourselves and i think we need more i reached out to the bureau of prisons for a statement.

The bureau tells me the majority of its inmate population is in quarantine and isolation.

Live in rochester ib kimt news 3.

Thank you isabella.

The bureau of prisons tells kimt news 3, the highest priority is to do everything it can to minimize the