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Impact of COVID-19 on State and Federal Prisons, March 2020–February 2021 (2022)

State and federal correctional facilities performed 4,816,400 viral tests for COVID-19 on persons in prison from the beginning of March 2020 to the end of February 2021. Of these tests, 396,300 (8.2%) were positive for COVID-19, representing 374,400 unique infected persons in state and federal prisons. The infection rate in prisons during this period was 219 per 1,000 state prisoners at risk of exposure to COVID-19 and 298 per 1,000 federal prisoners at risk of exposure. Staff in state correctional facilities had an infection rate of 269 per 1,000 staff, while those working in Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities had a rate of 188 per 1,000.

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