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A man incarcerated at Snake River Correctional Institution died Aug. 12 from a presumed COVID-19 infection, Oregon Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jennifer Black told WW. The man was between 60 and 70 years old.
Black says ODOC is still awaiting test results to confirm that his death was related to COVID-19. The man was an inmate at Snake River in Ontario, Ore. The facility has 158 current inmate cases of COVID-19—the second-highest in Oregon prisons—and the most cases of COVID infections among staff, tallying 57.
Oregon prisons are ranked by tiers, depending on how severe the COVID outbreak is at the respective facility, with Tier 1 being the best and Tier 5 being the worst. Snake River is on Tier 4, meaning the entire institution is under quarantine for 14 days. Right now, 35 inmates at Snake River are in medical isolation, and 2,910 are under quarantine, according to ODOC's website.
This is the second COVID-related death of a prisoner within Oregon's corrections system. Back in May, a man at Oregon State Penitentiary died from the virus.