Daily Update: Vaccine Update, Staff Appreciation, and Test Results for February 1
Michigan Department of Corrections sent this bulletin at 02/01/2021 10:06 PM EST
The Michigan Department of Corrections is committed to providing our employees with up-to-date information as it relates to our efforts in dealing with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
MDOC Secures Vaccines for Facility and Field Staff
As we reported to you last week, the department has been in talks consistently with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in recent weeks to secure vaccines for our facility and field staff.
The MDOC has now successfully secured enough of the vaccine so that every facility and field employee who has said they wish to be vaccinated can do so.
County health departments around the state will receive the MDOC staff vaccines starting Wednesday. We continue to be in talks with those county health departments about scheduling to receive the vaccine and when staff can be vaccinated at each facility. We will have more detailed information with facility-specific information in the days to come.
Some of the health departments will be working with the Michigan National Guard to administer the vaccine to staff at the facilities, others will be providing staff to administer the vaccines at the facilities, and others will organize community based locations where staff will receive the vaccines.
This is a great and welcome development and should make it much easier for employees wishing to be vaccinated. Vaccination is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged.
Prisoner vaccinations began on Wednesday and through Friday, 20 facilities had begun vaccinating prisoners aged 65 and over.
In total, so far, 3,122 prisoners have received their first dose of the vaccine.
Most facility have done about 100 vaccines each, which allows for all the prisoners who want the vaccine and are 65 and over to receive it, and then any remaining doses are provided to prisoners 64 and under who are at the highest risk for having an adverse reaction to COVID-19 given their medical history.
However we have vaccinated 800 prisoners at Lakeland Correctional Facility given the large population of elderly prisoners there and the other prisoners who help to care for the older prisoners.
Last week, Region 9 2020 Agent of the Year nominee Ryan Cosgrove with Monroe County was presented with his nomination award by Supervisor Judy Laberdee and Region Manager Brock Dietrich (not pictured).
Agent Cosgrove began his career with MDOC in 2006 as a Corrections Officer and promoted to a field agent in the Monroe County Parole/Probation Office in 2009. Agent Cosgrove is currently a parole agent in Monroe County where he supervises a caseload that includes, but is not limited to, SAI, Vocational Village. He is also the primary ICOTS agent in Monroe County. In her nomination of Agent Cosgrove, Supervisor Judy Laberdee described him as a mentor to new agents and a high performing agent of integrity. Agent Cosgrove is very dependable and one of the “go-to” agents in the office who is always willing to step and volunteer. Supervisor Laberdee described the work that Agent Cosgrove did with a female parolee who had suffered some significant trauma and had an opiate use disorder. Agent Cosgrove was able to get her entered into Macomb SHAR’s RAISE residential program for females and remained in constant contact with the program staff and the parolee. At the parolee’s RAISE graduation ceremony, she repeatedly spoke during her speech how Agent Cosgrove assisted her, kept her going despite many setbacks and still believed in her. She spoke to Agent Cosgrove daily and he reassured the parolee she was doing the right thing and encouraged her to stay in the program. The RAISE Program Administrator stated she was sure it was Agent Cosgrove’s reassurances and communication with his parolee that helped her maintain and stick with the program, and said Agent Cosgrove was “the example of how all agents should handle their cases”.
We join Supervisor Laberdee and Region Manager Dietrich in thanking Agent Cosgrove for his hard work, and congratulating him on this well-deserved award.
Black History Month
Governor Whitmer has proclaimed February as Black History Month in Michigan, in recognition of the significant cultural, historical, and economic contributions African Americans have made to the development of America and the American way of life, while encouraging each of us to take time to reflect on the systemic barriers Black Americans have faced and still face to this day.
Michigan is home to countless Black Americans who have made significant contributions to our state. For Black History Month, The Michigan Department of Civil Rights will feature a week of daily messages on each of four individuals. Each week they will focus on one person’s story told in seven snippets. Week 1 started today, and introduced Judge Dalton C. Roberson.
Judge Dalton C. Roberson was “an icon of Michigan jurisprudence” and a mentor to young Black attorneys. He presided over the 1993 conviction of a Detroit police officer in the beating death of Malice Green and was appointed to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in 1972. We look forward to sharing more on Judge Roberson throughout this week.
Susan M. Hunter Scholarship 2021 Applications
The Susan M. Hunter Correctional Scholarship is named in honor of Susan M. Hunter, former Director of the Prisons Division at the National Institute of Corrections, as a lasting tribute to her commitment to the field of corrections.
Susan passed away in 2004 from breast cancer. CLA’s Past Presidents’ Committee had been working toward a scholarship program for children of correctional staff. In the wake of her death, CLA grieved the loss of Susan, and the Committee made a logical decision to name the scholarship program after Susan, who had embodied the ideals of an educated and enlightened correctional workforce. Her life’s work continues in our memory of what she held dear, which is now expressed in our profession with contributions to deserving students whose parents labor in our Association's chosen field.
Eligibility Requirements for the Susan M. Hunter Correctional Scholarship:
Students must be the son or daughter of a corrections employee (current full-time, retired, or deceased) within any CLA member Department of Corrections or jail/prison system.
Vendor employees, correctional employees, their siblings, spouses, and grandchildren are not eligible.
Incoming first-time freshmen, along with enrolled full-time college and graduate students, must have a minimum GPA of 3.3. Students may be working toward a degree in any area of study.
Students must be enrolled full-time in an accredited two-year or four-year college or university, or an accredited graduate program.
For 2021, awarded scholarship amounts will be $1,500 for undergraduate and graduate students and $750 for individuals who had received a $1,500 scholarship a prior year.
We are sad to report that the 2021 Lansing Employee Rec Day, originally scheduled for June 11, has been cancelled. The tentative date for the Brimley Rec Day, September 24, is unchanged at this time. The Employee Engagement Committee will provide additional information on the Brimley Rec Day as it becomes available. Both the committee and the department look forward to the return of both Rec Days in the future, and the fun and camaraderie of a day spent with colleagues and friends.
Statewide Cases
*The deaths announced today includes 93 deaths identified during a Vital Records review. See cumulative data page for more information.
It is important for everyone to remain vigilant and continue to take steps to help break the chain of infection and slow the spread of COVID-19, both while at work and while in the community.
On Feb. 1, there were 111 new positive prisoner cases reported, including:
Michigan Reformatory - 66
Women's Huron Valley - 20
Bellamy Creek Correctional - 9
G. Robert Cotton Correctional - 9
Oaks Correctional - 7
CORRECTION: On Friday, Jan. 29, the Daily Update listed 5 new positives for Saginaw Correctional Facility. That number was incorrect. The facility reported 2 new prisoner positives.
*Results are downloaded each day and are reported after they are added into the medical record following receipt of information from labs.
You can also find a full listing of cumulative testing and total results by facility here.
Prisoner Step Downs and Recoveries
Prisoner Death
We're sad to report the death of a prisoner who had tested positive for COVID-19. The prisoner had originally been housed at Saginaw Correctional Facility.
There have now been 133 prisoners in MDOC custody to pass away from this virus
Staff Cases
There were eight positive staff cases to report today, including:
