WESTOVER, Md. - Eastern Correctional Institution has the highest number of new COVID positive cases in the entire prison system.
Prisons like ECI were built for the sole purpose of housing inmates. Now, many inmates are being housed with a cellmate named COVID.
Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Robert L. Green says containing the virus in close-quarters is complex. Despite the complexity, he says measures are being taken.
"It is an incredible amount of limited movement," Secretary Green says about inmate's ability to move about the prison, "and I think that's the biggest piece for everyone to understand. It's limited movement. It's very controlled movement."
Secretary Green also says ECI installed six additional recreation areas to help spread inmates out. Inmates and correctional officers are tested regularly. Tasha Owens, whose fiance is incarcerated at ECI, worries not enough is being done to keep inmates safe.
"The facility administrator. The COs (correctional officers). The nurse. They really don't care about the inmates. It's like when people get locked up, they leave them there to rot," says Owens.
Secretary Green disagrees saying "we're doing a good job." Green says DPSCS is working to keep not only inmates safe but members of the Somerset County community.
Green says cases inside ECI are decreasing, compared to this time last month.