Inmates’ flu-like symptoms prompts Illinois prison lockdown

INA — The state’s Department of Corrections has locked down the Big Muddy River Correctional Center in Ina after dozens of inmates started to show flu-like symptoms.

The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reports that the department says the Level 1 lockdown means that no visitors are allowed at the facility and no inmates will be transferred.

None of the 88 inmates — less than five percent of the inmate population — have required hospitalization but that medical staff at the facility are treating the inmates and assessing all offenders for new cases.

Also, the housing units are being cleaned during each shift and all the meals are being brought to the inmates in their cells.

The facility says there are no reports of symptoms among employees there.