An inmate from the state’s Fremont Correctional Facility has died and officials are waiting for autopsy results to determine the cause of death.
The 65-year-old man died suddenly Nov. 17. He hadn’t been showing signs of COVID-19. But as part of standard protocol, clinical staff checked him just prior to his death, according to a release from the Department of Corrections (DOC).
The inmate’s name has been withheld for medical privacy reasons.
Fremont Correctional Facility has been on Phase III modified operations since Oct. 6 and has been conducting regular staff testing over the last several months.
According to the DOC’s COVID-19 dashboard, Phase III “reduces staffing to a level that will provide essential services. Compartmentalization will occur and offenders will receive services cell-side whenever possible. This level will be reserved for facilities that are experiencing an active COVID-19 infection.”
Those measures are placed on top of the Phase II operations, which reduces staff to increase social distancing, increases cleaning and sanitizing, provides free soap to offenders to encourage hand washing and keeps offenders in the same daily group to limit contacts, among other measures.
The Fremont facility has posted 720 total positive tests, 79 of which are active and reported in the past two weeks.
In Chaffee County, the Buena Vista Correctional Complex has seen 261 positive cases and 33 remain active.
Overall, the Colorado Department of Corrections has reported 3,261 cases with 1,147 active and seven total deaths. Three of those deaths are from Fremont, while four are from the Sterling Correctional Facility. A total of 81,337 tests have been performed, with some inmates receiving multiple tests.
The Department has been conducting inmate surveillance testing in order to identify and quarantine those who are positive. The vast majority of inmates that have tested positive have been asymptomatic or have had mild symptoms, according to DOC officials.
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