Governor Ned Lamont’s new selection to oversee the Connecticut Department of Corrections said Wednesday that he believes the firm is more prepared for an outbreak imaginable this fall than months ago, when the pandemic began and “mistakes” were made.
Angel Quirós, who will be the department’s first Hispanic commissioner, said criminal officials had learned much more about coronavirus since the spring and some policies, such as the isolation of inmates who tested positive for the state’s maximum security criminal test and their ban on showering due to ventilation disorders – have been amended.
“So we learned a lot. There is a lot of knowledge we have in the branch of the mistakes that have been made that have led us to be more prepared for the fall,” said Quirós, whose appointment he announced through Lamont at a press conference at the state Capitol.
The Connecticut ACLU filed lawsuits on behalf of inmates in April for situations in state prisons at the height of the pandemic.In an affidavit of a lawsuit opposed to the state, inmate Roger Johnson described that he was allowed to shower for two weeks.
In addition to allowing symptomatic and asymptomatic inmates of COVID-19 to now shower, Quirós claimed that he “walks away” from the quarantine of inmates at the Northern Correctional Center after discovering that some inmates were hiding their symptoms to avoid being sent.to the Level Five facility in Somers.He said a Level Four facility had been known as a site of choice, but did not reveal which one.
He said the firm had finished a circular moment of mass testing and that the existing infection rate was around 3%, up from 9% earlier in the year.He said there were a total of 8 symptomatic prisoners in July and August, which Quirós described as a “big improvement” in the company’s staff credits.
Quirós, 52, who spent his teenage years in Hartford, has been at the firm since joining the firm as a prison officer in 1989.He has risen through the ranks for more than 31 years, occupying many positions, adding director.Quirós, the Assistant Commissioner for Operations and Rehabilitation Services.He has also served as interim commissioner of the firm since Rollin Cook resigned to return to Utah in June.
While Lamont held many of his senior closet positions with other people who had worked outdoors in the Connecticut state government in the past, he noted that Quirós, “who was here, who serves this state,” was the “best person” for the position.. Appointment requires legislative confirmation.
Since February 2008, Connecticut’s criminal population has declined by approximately 50%.Quirós said he plans to close other facilities, but they will be revealed until next year.
“Currently, the main objective is to prepare the firm for COVID in the fall.”He said, “Let’s spend the fall, in early spring, and then there will be a serious discussion in early 2021, in March or April, about the plant closure option.”