Watchdog finds flawed virus response at California prison

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal prison in California struggled to contain the spread of the coronavirus because of staff shortages, limited use of home confinement and ineffective screening, the Justice Department watchdog said Thursday as it released the first results of remote inspections of facilities across the country.

The report found that staff members at the Bureau of Prisons facility in Lompoc, California, came to work despite experiencing coronavirus symptoms, and that officials in March failed to test or isolate an inmate who had begun having symptoms two days earlier and eventually tested positive.

As of mid-July, four inmates had died and over 1,000 had tested positive, according to the inspector general's office, which has embarked on a review of 16 prisons, halfway houses and other institutions.

The response from the Bureau of Prisons to the growing coronavirus crisis in prisons has raised alarm among advocates and lawmakers about whether the agency is doing enough to ensure the safety of the nearly 150,000 inmates serving time in federal facilities.

The inspector general also released its review Thursday of a prison in Tucson, which it said had successfully implemented social distancing measures and repurposed empty housing units into quarantine and medical isolation areas.

'Å“Today's reports do not include recommendations," Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a video statement accompanying the release of the reports. "Rather, our reports are intended to assist the BOP and the Justice Department in identifying strategies to most effectively contain current and potential future COVID-19 outbreaks.