Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today the release of reports of remote inspections of three Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) contract prisons: Correctional Institution Giles W. Dalby (Dalby), operated by Management & Training Corporation, in Garza County, Texas; Correctional Institution Moshannon Valley, operated by the GEO Group, Inc., in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania; and Correctional Institution McRae, operated by CoreCivic, in Telfair County, Georgia.
The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) findings included the following:
- COVID-19 cases:
- The first McRae inmates tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) on April 2. As of August 4, 18 inmates had tested positive, 2 had active cases, 15 had recovered, and 1 had died.
- The first Dalby inmates tested positive for COVID-19 on June 22. As of August 4, 83 Dalby inmates had tested positive, 8 had active cases, 74 had recovered, and 1 had died.
- As of August 4, no Moshannon Valley inmates had tested positive for COVID‑19.
- Guidance from the BOP and CDC:
- Dalby, Moshannon Valley, and McRae implemented strategies outlined in guidance issued by the BOP and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for prevention and management of COVID-19. However, the BOP did not always issue guidance to contract prisons at the same time it issued comparable guidance to BOP-managed institutions between January and April 2020.
- Face coverings:
- For 2 weeks, Dalby and Moshannon Valley were unable to comply with the April 3 CDC guideline for individuals to wear cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain due to supply shortages. Given the limited number of cases in the surrounding communities and lack of any cases at either of these institutions in April, the delay did not appear to have a material effect on efforts to contain the spread of COVID‑19 at that time.
- McRae’s Warden had inmate work details make face coverings that were distributed to staff and inmates by April 2. While these efforts show that McRae was ahead of CDC and BOP guidance on the distribution of face coverings, the first McRae inmate who tested positive for COVID-19 was already showing symptoms as of March 23; as subsequent data reflects, further spread of the virus within McRae was already occurring.
Today’s reports do not include recommendations. Rather, our inspection reports are intended to assist the BOP and DOJ in identifying strategies to most effectively contain current and future COVID-19 outbreaks. Additional reports of the OIG’s remote inspections will be released in the coming months as they are completed. The DOJ OIG also plans to prepare a capstone report providing BOP-wide conclusions and recommendations resulting from our inspections.