Jackson prison suffers COVID-19 outbreak leaving families of inmates outraged

FOX 2 - Paul is a father whose son is serving time in the Parnall Correctional Institution in Jackson.

"I'm scared for him and I'm scared for me because of the virus," he said.

Rob Wolchek: “Tell me as a dad, what are your concerns here?"

"His life,” Paul said. “His health, his life."

A few weeks ago, Paul told me his son said several inmates at Parnall were deathly sick with COVID-19.  

Prison officials at the time told me there were just a handful of sick inmates. But it turns out, Paul's son was right.

"Parnall Correctional Facility - which has the most cases - it has more than 100 prisoner cases and I think, 30 or 40 staff cases," said Chris Gautz.

And it was announced Friday that three prisoners at Parnell prison have died from COVID-19. That brings the total to five dead in Michigan prisons.

RELATED: Michigan confirms 205 new COVID-19 deaths, 1,279 new cases in past 24 hours

Gautz from the Michigan Department of Corrections, says Parnell is the exception. Of Michigan's 37,000 state prison inmates, only about 300 have confirmed cases.

Gautz says they are trying to speed up the parole process, but it's not that easy.  

"The problem is the vast majority of the 5,000 that are parole eligible are serving for violent crimes or sexually assaultive crimes,” he said. “And there's a reason they haven't been paroled yet. So everything we do we have to balance the public safety."

In Wayne County jails, 763 inmates have been released and are now on electronic tethers.

But one inmate still in jail, is Lisa’s boyfriend. I spoke to him two weeks ago over the phone.

"They're treating us inhumane, there’s a pandemic going around the country and we're just in here suffering,” the inmate said.

Lisa was overcome with worry back then. Now, she's just mad.

"These people made a mistake in their life,” she said. “They committed a crime, whatever. They're paying for it, but it's not fair. They are still human beings."

Lisa’s boyfriend said there were sick inmates housed near him. But it is something Wayne County Sheriff's spokesperson Pageant Atterbury denied. 

But earlier this week, it was reported an inmate released from Wayne County Jail died of coronavirus just days after he got home.

"We do send our deepest regards to the family,” Atterbury said. “He was okay when he left us."

Atterbury says all inmates have now been issued masks and are housed one to a cell.  And while more than 100 sheriff's office employees have tested positive, she says prisoners are safe.

"We did get one inmate that tested positive,” she said. “He's been quarantined about a week now at Jail Division Three.

Wolchek: "The sheriff's (Public Information Officer) told me there's only one inmate in Wayne County Jails that has tested positive. Do you believe her?"

"No they're not testing them, so how do they know?" Lisa said.

As for Paul, whose son is housed where no one is denying there's an outbreak of COVID-19, he just wants his kid back.

"They should have let him out when all this started, Rob,” Paul said. “He's only got a month left, you know what I’m saying."

Now it's up to an already depleted prison staff to keep Paul’s son healthy. Because while all of us are doing our best to keep the virus from spreading, it would be a disaster if penal institutions released infected inmates back into the public.

"I’ve got to go pick him up,” Paul said. “Is he already going to be contaminated? So I’m going to go catch something?  Because he's coming back to my house."