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Connecticut lawmakers want an investigation after report of COVID outbreak at Danbury prison

More than half the women at a federal prison in Danbury tested positive for COVID-19, but the prison didn’t immediately isolate them or tell them they had the virus. That’s according to allegations in a letter from U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and Representative Jahana Hayes.

The three lawmakers asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into the allegations at a minimum-security camp that’s part of the prison.

According to the allegations, prison officials returned more than a dozen inmates with COVID-19 back into the dorms with other inmates after they tested positive. And they didn’t tell them or separate them for more than 24 hours.

The lawmakers called the prison’s actions “shockingly reckless,” if true. And they said they endanger women at the prison, staff and surrounding communities.

A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson said the bureau is reviewing the letter, but does not share congressional correspondence with the public.

The bureau said it follows CDC guidance with regard to quarantine and isolation procedures.

Copyright 2022 WSHU. To see more, visit WSHU.

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He fell in love with sound-rich radio storytelling while working as an assistant reporter at KBIA public radio in Columbia, Missouri. Before coming back to radio, he worked in digital journalism as the editor of Newtown Patch. As a freelance reporter, his work for WSHU aired nationally on NPR. Davis is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism; he started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.

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