AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. (AP) - More than 700 prisoners at the Airway Heights Corrections Center near Spokane have COVID-19, after a spectacular rise in cases in the past week.
The Department of Corrections reported 740 cases Wednesday among the approximately 1,900 inmates at the prison.
The Spokesman-Review reported that last week the prison had seven cases.
“The humanity of what’s going on here is decaying faster and faster every day,” inmate Tobin Sather told the newspaper.
He’s had two showers in the past 15 days, and hasn’t had a single change of clothes in that time.
For six days, the room’s temperature was hovering around 55 degrees after the heating system broke down, Sather said.
The prison’s gym is filled with about 150 sick men, Sather said, many of whom are experiencing diarrhea among other COVID-19 symptoms.
“That’s obscene,” Sather said. “No clean clothes, no way of cleaning our clothes, limited access to showers if at all, not being able to just wash our bodies, generally not being able to use the restroom – those would be my biggest concerns.’’
The Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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