CONCORD, NH – For most of 2020, the New Hampshire Department of Corrections was able to limit the spread of COVID-19 among its inmate populations, but a spike in cases in December led to two COVID-related deaths so far.
Newly identified cases in the men’s prisons have since slowed down significantly. Meanwhile, a relatively small outbreak of cases in the New Hampshire Correctional Facility for Women in Concord is on the upswing since the virus first appeared there earlier this month.
One male inmate in the State Prison for Men in Concord was reported to have died from COVID-related complications in late December. Since then, an inmate from the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility in Berlin died on Jan. 8, according to DOC spokesperson Tina Thurber.
“Both residents were admitted to the hospital for an extended period of time,” Thurber said. “Our condolences to their families for their loss.”
Since then, both outbreaks have died down, and active cases are down to zero in Berlin and 11 in Concord.
“Our staff have done an amazing job managing through this pandemic and we are optimistic that our numbers will continue to move in the right direction,” Thurber said.
It took a couple months after the initial lockdowns before the first New Hampshire prisoner tested positive with the coronavirus in late May, after he transferred from another state, but none of the prisons experienced any sizable case numbers, or clusters, until last month.
Aside from a few dozen corrections officers who tested positive, that prisoner was the only one who tested positive, until late November, early December, when testing ramped up and a cluster was identified in a behavioral health unit as well as a handful of cases in the State Prison for Men in Concord.
In the weeks that followed, outbreaks occurred primarily in the men’s prison in Concord and the state prison in Berlin. The Concord prison reached its peak by mid-December with over 140 active cases, and Berlin peaked about a week later with over 80 active cases at one time, according to data provided by DOC.
To date, the men’s prison in Concord had 249 cases since it began testing in March, and Berlin had 127, according to the online dashboard updated daily by DOC. By contrast, the women’s prison in Concord has had a total of 17 cases to date, plus DOC is reporting 22 cases in transitional housing units and 19 cases in secure psychiatric and residential treatment units.
While smaller numbers than what the men’s prison saw last month, the women’s prison is undergoing a spike in new cases right now, with 9 currently active cases, slightly more than half of the total. The first case to appear in the prison was reported on Jan. 6.
The Department of Health and Human Services declared an outbreak at the women’s prison on Jan. 21.
Staff cases have totaled 80 at the men’s prison in Concord, 30 in Berlin and 11 at the women’s prison so far.
