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24th Alabama inmate dies after testing positive for COVID

Willie Bernard Collins, 67, died on Oct. 1 after battling the disease for 113 days.

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The twenty-fourth Alabama inmate has died after testing positive for COVID-19, having tested positive four months before his death. 

Willie Bernard Collins, 67, died on Oct. 1 after battling the disease for 113 days.

Collins tested positive for COVID-19 on June 11, while being treated at the Staton Correctional Facilityโ€™s infirmary for several other health conditions, the Alabama Department of Corrections said in a press release Monday. 

Collins was placed in medical isolation at Staton prison, but was transferred to a local hospital on July 31 when his condition worsened. He later died there, according to ADOC. 

Additionally, ADOC announced that three more inmates at Limestone Correctional Facility have tested positive for COVID-19, as have four more prison workers: one at Limestone, one at the Alex City Community Based Facility and Community Work Center, another at the Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Center and one at the Ventress Correctional Facility.

There have been 430 confirmed cases among inmates and 364 among prison workers statewide, according to ADOC. Two prison workers at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women died after testing positive for COVID-19. 

As of Sept. 30, ADOC had tested 2,738 of the stateโ€™s approximately 22,000 inmates. ADOC hasnโ€™t updated testing numbers since that date.

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Eddie Burkhalter is a reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter. You can email him at eburkhalter@alreporter.com or reach him via Twitter.

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