By Matthew B. Stannard
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — Seeking to prevent an outbreak of swine flu from spreading beyond prison walls, officials at San Quentin State Prison on Wednesday stopped accepting prisoners from 16 Northern California counties, including all nine in the Bay Area.
The move follows by two days the prison’s decision to stop transferring prisoners to other facilities in the state.
“Because we’re not transferring people out, it kind of creates this backlog,” said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton. “There are not enough beds to receive the new inmates.”
The decision will have a ripple effect throughout the state criminal justice system because San Quentin is a major transfer hub, normally receiving 250 inmates a week from county jails and paroling hundreds more or sending them to other facilities.
But with 47 inmates exhibiting symptoms consistent with influenza Type A, subtype H1N1 - more commonly known as swine flu - and four probable cases, prison officials are taking no chances, Thornton said. None of the cases has required hospitalization, and several inmates are already recovering, she said.
In addition to limiting incoming and transferred inmates, the prison is halting routine programs and giving inmates up for parole a medical evaluation. Inmates in three units are under quarantine, confined to their quarters and receiving meals in their cells.
“There are just certain units that are under quarantine,” said Thornton, noting that Death Row, for example, remains unaffected. “We don’t want this illness to spread to other parts of the prison. We don’t want it spreading outside the prison, and we don’t want it spreading to other prisons.”
Forty-seven inmates at San Quentin Prison have exhibited symptoms consistent with influenza Type A, subtype H1N1 - more commonly known as swine flu. None of the cases has required hospitalization.
Copyright 2009 San Francisco Chronicle