MANSFIELD — Two more Richland Correctional Institution inmates have died due to COVID-19, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
The latest figures raise the death toll to five since an outbreak of the virus began at the prison in late September.
Both men died Wednesday at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, according to ODRC spokeswoman JoEllen Smith. All five deaths have occurred in October.
One of the men was 79 years old, admitted to the prison system in June 2018, after being convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor from Guernsey County. He was serving a four-year prison sentence. He was admitted the OSU hospital on Sept. 24.
The other man was 61 years old, entering the prison system in 2008 after multiple rape and sexual battery convictions in Mahoning County. He was serving 30 years to life in prison. He was taken to the hospital in Columbus on Sept. 25.
Both deaths are listed as “probable” on the ODRC website until the state receives a death certificate, which takes several weeks. If COVID-19 is determined to be a cause of death, the deaths are moved to the “confirmed COVID-related” column on the chart found on ODRC’s website.
As of Thursday, Smith said, three RICI inmates remained hospitalized at OSU, two in ICU and one on a ventilator.
As of Thursday afternoon, 29 inmates remain positive for coronavirus with two test results pending. The ODRC said 85 inmates have recovered and that 891 inmates remain in quarantine with 29 in isolation.
There are currently 10 positive tests among RICI staff with 97 positive tests and 87 recoveries.
At the nearby Mansfield Correctional Institution, there are no current positive cases among inmates though the results from 17 tests are pending. There are 139 MANCI inmates in quarantine and two in isolation. The ODRC website said 71 inmates have recovered from the virus.
There are currently seven positive cases among MANCI staff with 41 positive tests and 34 recoveries.
Since the pandemic reached Ohio in March, there have been 185 positive COVID-19 tests among inmates at the two state prisons in Mansfield and 138 among staff members at the two facilities, according to the ODRC website as of Thursday.
One MANCI died from COVID-19 in July. No staff members at either prison has died from the virus.
