A farm employee at the Cummins Unit has tested positive for covid-19, a prison spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The employee typically worked outside prison walls on farming operations, according to the agency.
One other employee has quarantined himself at home as a precaution, but no inmates have been isolated as a result of the positive test, according to Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
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"He does not work inside an institution," Tyler said of the individual who tested positive.
Tyler said the department was informed of the employee's positive test over the weekend. The employee has not been to work in more than a week, she said.
The department ceased all outside visitation with inmates on March 16 and began temperature screening all staff members in hopes of keeping the virus from spreading into the state's prisons. New inmates transferred from county jails are being held in quarantine for two weeks.
Last week, the Board of Corrections voted to expedite parole consideration for 114 inmates who are within a year of parole eligibility. Several county jails have also released low-level or at-risk prisoners over fears of the virus spreading into the state's crowded lockups.
Only one inmate at the Department of Corrections has been tested for the virus, Tyler said, and that test came back negative.
More than 16,000 prisoners are held by the Department of Corrections, while another 1,600 are backed up in county jails awaiting transfers.
Tyler said she was told Tuesday that two employees had tested positive at the Bowie County Correctional Center, a private jail in Texas that holds about 325 Arkansas inmates. One Arkansas inmate being held at the jail has been in quarantine for 10 days and has shown no symptoms, Tyler said.
The jail, across the state line in Texarkana, Texas, is operated by LaSalle Corrections of Ruston, La.
The company said in a statement Tuesday that the two employees were sent home March 20 after they reported feeling unwell. Other employees who had contact with them are being told to self-isolate for 14 days.
"Every employee is now screened and has their temperature taken upon arriving at work each day," said Dr. Pamela Hearn, the medical director for LaSalle. "Our nurses are making rounds, checking on prisoners to see if any of them are experiencing symptoms. We have social distancing. And we are cleaning and sanitizing throughout the facility."
Metro on 04/01/2020