AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. — The number of COVID-19 cases at the Airway Heights Corrections Center continues to climb, with the Washington State Department of Corrections reporting 775 inmates testing positive.
This means an estimated one-third of the inmate population has the virus.
Tobin Sather is one of those prisoners who tested positive on Thanksgiving Day.
"Not the turkey I was looking for," Sather said.
KREM 2’s Amanda Roley spoke with him over the phone. He said he believes he got the virus from a corrections officer.
"There's a long record history of him not wearing a mask, or taking the disease serious,” Sather said.
Sather is currently one of 22 inmates in the Regional Care Facility at Airway Heights. It's a separate space to care for COVID-stricken inmates. The capacity is 30.
Sather also said another 125 COVID-positive inmates are currently being housed in the gym on the floor.
The DOC would not directly confirm this, but said the capacity in the gym is 155 and inmates are being provided cots from the Red Cross.
Sather said the conditions for infected inmates are unbearable.
"As far as cleanliness goes, you have 70 to 80 inmates trying to use one toilet, if the toilets working,” Sather said. “The way that the current situation is, is they've taken us out of our units, and are forcing us to share. One of the first symptoms of the disease is diarrhea. So, you have 125 guys trying to use one toilet. I mean, just mathematically it’s insane."
Showers are also limited, according to Sather, who said many inmates he is quarantined with have not showered in weeks.
“Many of us haven't taken showers or had clean clothes for a week to two weeks now,” Sather said.
Not only that, he said the Regional Care Facility, where he is staying, went without heat for over a week.
"Here in the RCF, which is where the worst of the sick are, we were subjected to 55 degree temperatures for over a week, because they refuse to come over and fix the air system,” Sather said. “So we had no heat in the building."
The DOC denies any issues with the thermostat or that it was broken.
KREM 2 has received several similar reports from families of other inmates.
One mother emailed us, saying that what is happening is inhumane.
According to her son, 103 inmates are on the gym floor with only two sinks, two toilets and one shower. She claims some inmates have been in the same clothes since November 24.
We have repeatedly asked the DOC for an interview to address these concerns, but so far, we have only received email responses that do not always answer our questions.
For example, the DOC hasn't confirmed how many toilets are broken or available for inmates to use.
As for showers, the DOC said its protocols for medical isolation continue to develop. Current protocols dictate that patients in medical isolation should be offered a shower starting on the seventh day of isolation.
According to Deputy Communication Director Rachel Erison, "the first seven days of medical isolation are to remain highly restricted movement to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19."
If the regional care facility reaches full capacity, the DOC said it would use an alternative housing location for medical isolation, but did not say where that location would be.
The Spokane Regional Health Department also told KREM it fully expects more cases to be confirmed at the prison facilities over the next few days and week.