LEWISBURG – A federal prison guard has tested positive for COVID-19 after he was temporarily transferred to other prisons to help with COVID-19 outbreaks. The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed an unidentified Lewisburg penitentiary employee tested positive for COVID-19.
Andy Kline, President of Local 148 of the American Federation of Government Employees stationed at Lewisburg, says the corrections officer was sent to New York City to help battle the outbreak there. That officer is now in the isolated housing provided by Bucknell University. Kline says several other returning officers were tested as a precaution.
A spokesman for U.S. Congressman Fred Keller (R-12th, Kreamer, Pa.) says the congressman has been notified. Congressman Keller has been critical of the BOP’s handling of inmate transfers during the pandemic.
The BOP says nearly 2,000 federal inmates and over 350 staff members nationwide have tested positive for COVID-19, and they continue to transfer inmates and staff within the system as they see fit. Kline says no positive cases have been reported among Lewisburg’s 1,400 inmates. Kline also says the BOP continues to transfer inmates at will.
