Three staff members positive for COVID-19 at Charleston prison

Three staff members at the Southeast Correctional Facility in Charleston, Missouri, have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Missouri Department of Corrections communications director Karen Pojmann.

“None of them had contact with offenders. All of them are in quarantine at home,” the Thursday afternoon email from Pojmann stated. “At this time, no offenders currently inside SECC or any other Missouri state prison have tested positive for COVID-19.”

Missouri Department of Corrections director Anne Precythe announced the first case among Charleston prison staff in a Saturday letter stating the employee had last entered the facility April 7.

“This is the only COVID-19 positive test result among staff or offenders at SECC,” Precythe stated in her weekend message.

According to the message, it is also the only case of COVID-19 in which an institutional staff member worked in a facility within 14 days of testing positive.

Throughout the state, a total of about 11,000 correctional employees supervise about 27,000 people in institutions and 62,000 on probation and parole, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections website.

As of Thursday afternoon, the website stated there are no cases of COVID-19 among offenders inside any Missouri Department of Corrections facility. A total of 49 inmates were reported to have been tested.