State plans to test inmates prior to release

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Local authorities said the issue recently with an inmate being released from the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Dept. of Corrections, then testing positive for Covid-19, has exposed the shortcomings of the current policy to only screen inmates before release instead of testing them.

After being released, Jad Perkins, 40, developed symptoms and tested positive for Covid-19 on April 24 in Eureka Springs.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on April 21 that 38 percent of the state’s total Covid-19 cases were from prisons. Solomon Graves, Chief of Staff, Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC), Office of the Secretary, wrote in an email that only symptomatic inmates are tested prior to be released, as per guidance from the Arkansas Department of Health.

ADH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Gary Wheeler, an infectious disease expert, wrote in an email that up until this time, they have not had the lab resources to test all the inmates leaving facilities.

“The Department of Corrections is screening all inmates before release with a temperature screening and a history screening,” Wheeler said. “We hope with the expansion of our lab facilities to be able to test all Department of Corrections inmates who are released by June 1.”

“[Perkins] was told do to a 14-day quarantine, but he did not do that,” Dr. Dan Bell said. “He did bring it into the community and spread it to others. We don’t know how far it has spread.”

Mayor Butch Berry said he is very concerned about the case, especially as the city had no known cases of Covid-19 before this. Berry said he feels what happened in Eureka Springs illustrates major problems with the DOC policies, and every inmate released should be tested for Covid-19.

“Unfortunately, that does not assure the public or the DOC that the inmate does not later on have the virus or the symptoms,” Berry said.

Bell said current procedures are inadequate to protect the public.

“If they are about to release people who have been in prison and are clearly at risk for being exposed, they need to have a negative test before they leave,” Bell said. “But there is still a fair chance that they could have this virus. Someone can have the virus, but not enough to test positive. He could still bloom out later. They really need a two-week quarantine before they are allowed to get out and have contact with the public.”

Contact tracing is underway to identify people who were in contact with Perkins.