Inmates make up a fifth of Ohio's 11,000 confirmed coronavirus cases

With visitors coming in and out every day and dozens of people packed into close quarters, prisons across the U.S. have long been expected to become coronavirus hotbeds. Those conditions have turned into a devastating reality in Ohio, where a full fifth of the state's confirmed coronavirus cases have been recorded among its inmates, The Columbus Dispatch reports.

Ohio's number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases hit 11,602 on Sunday and its death toll rose to 471, the Ohio Department of Health reported. "Much of the increase in cases has come from Ohio's prison system," as prison inmates, employees, and visitors are all being tested for the virus, the Dispatch writes. As of Sunday, 2,426 Ohio inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, making up 21 percent of the state's case count. Most of those cases come from the Marion Correctional Institution, where 1,828 inmates — 73 percent of the prison population — have tested positive for the virus. The rest of the prison population is now in quarantine.

Coronavirus spread within prisons has been a major concern for criminal justice reform advocates; among their concerns is how quarantine tends to look like solitary confinement for inmates. Advocates have called for releasing nonviolent prisoners and immigrant detainees, especially older inmates and those who are exceptionally vulnerable to COVID-19. Thousands of inmates across the country have so far been released from county, state, and federal prisons.

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