A 67-year-old man who was incarcerated at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center and tested positive for COVID-19 has died.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a press release that the man was taken to the hospital on April 25 for an assessment and tested positive while hospitalized. He died Monday morning, at 1:20 a.m.
The medical examiner has not yet determined the exact cause of death. If confirmed to be COVID-19, he would be the first to died from the virus in the Tennessee prison system.
TDOC says six other state inmates who have tested positive for the coronavirus are currently hospitalized, and one is in serious condition. Nearly 2,000 prisoners have tested positive for the virus throughout the system, including about 1,300 at Trousdale Turner — the state’s largest prison, which is privately operated by CoreCivic.
The governor’s Unified Command announced Friday that every Tennessee inmate and prison employee would be tested for COVID-19 after mass testing at Trousdale Turner and the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex uncovered major outbreaks within the facilities. Prior to this week, the state had been testing only those who reported symptoms, unless a larger epidemic was suspected.
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