First Miami inmate tests positive for coronavirus. Fear that it could ‘spread like wildfire’

The first inmate at a Miami-Dade jail has tested positive for COVID-19, the corrections department confirmed.

The unidentified inmate had been at the medical ward of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade since March 30, a corrections spokesman said on Friday morning. “The affected housing unit is being thoroughly cleaned, inmates are quarantined and staff who had been in contact are being sent for testing,” the department wrote in a tweet.

For weeks, authorities have feared that inmates would inevitably contract the highly contagious coronavirus in the cramped quarters of Miami-Dade’s three jails. As of Friday, 22 Miami-Dade corrections officers and civilian employees had contracted COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

But for weeks, only two inmates, from the MetroWest Detention Center, had actually been tested, and both came back negative. It was unclear on Friday how many other inmates are being tested.

One TGK inmate, interviewed by phone on Friday, said he believed the sick inmate was transferred from MetroWest, even while complaining about a sore throat and chills.

“It’s just a matter of time before this whole jail is infected with coronavirus, and it’s going to spread like wildfire,” said the inmate, who asked his name not be used; he too was suffering a sore throat on Friday morning.

The handling of inmates at MetroWest is also the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by “medically vulnerable” inmates being held at the facility.

Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered that inmates be given supplies of soap and disinfectant and measures be taken to ensure social distancing. Miami-Dade County has said it has already been following the measures mandated by the judge, including requiring officers to wear masks while on duty.

Since the viral outbreak in March, criminal-justice agencies have worked with the jail to cut back the population of people behind bars. As of Friday morning, there were 3,336 inmates behind bars, down from about 4,000 in early March.

The pandemic has also been a cause for concern for Miami-Dade jail officers, who like responders across the nation, have struggled to obtain enough masks, gloves and other equipment that might help protect them from the virus.

Officers have even resorted to making their own masks. This week, the department received more than 5,200 donated masks to help curb the spread of the virus.

Outbreaks of the virus — and the fear of the outbreaks — have also racked the state prison system, and the South Florida immigration detention facilities.

This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 11:10 AM.