WASHINGTON – The federal Bureau of Prisons is locking all its 146,000 inmates in their cells for the next two weeks in an unparalleled effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as the focus shifts to a Louisiana compound, where two inmates have died and nearly 20 others remain hospitalized.
The compound, known as FCC Oakdale, has emerged as ground zero in the federal prison system’s struggle to contain coronavirus behind bars.
The situation there is so dire that the local health department told the federal government there was no need to test inmates anymore for the coronavirus.
Those showing symptoms should be presumed to have it. On Wednesday, the agency confirmed thata second inmate at Oakdale, 43-year-old Nicholas Rodriquez, had