COVID-19 has infected 147,000 prison inmates nationwide

 As of October 15, at least 147,051 people in prison had tested positive for COVID-19, a three percent increase from the week before, reported the Marshall Project. This was the lowest weekly increase among prisoners since June. The numbers suggest infections are slowing in prisons, while the rest of the nation on the outside starts to observe rising numbers of new cases as autumn sets in.

New cases among prisoners reached an all-time high in early August after slowing down in June, driven by big jumps in prisoners testing positive in Florida, California and the federal Bureau of Prisons as well as outbreaks in Arkansas, Hawaii and Oklahoma.

Reported cases first peaked in late April, when states such as Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas began mass testing of prisoners. Those initiatives suggested that COVID-19 had been circulating among people without symptoms in much greater numbers than previously known.

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