COLUMBUS, Ohio – A massive coronavirus outbreak that has sickened nearly 4,000 inmates in Ohio has highlighted the dangers lurking in the nation’s correctional facilities during the pandemic and what system-wide testing reveals about the scope of infections behind prison walls.
The state ordered testing in prisons earlier this month as infections began to streak through guards, and this week the spike sent Ohio's broader tally of virus cases to nearly 14,000, including more than 550 deaths and over 2,600 hospitalizations.
Prisons have been a major focus of concern since the virus first hit the United States, which incarcerates more people than any other nation — about 1.3 million inmates in state prisons and another 180,000 in federal