July 9, 2009
Swine flu outbreak at San Quentin limits inmate intake
An outbreak of swine flu at San Quentin State Prison led officials today to limit the acceptance of new inmates from 19 Northern California counties and halt the transfer of prisoners to other correctional facilities.
Nearly half the prison's 5,153 inmates have been placed under quarantine after 47 exhibited flu-like symptoms for the H1N1 virus and four probable cases were identified, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The decisions to limit transfers, keep some prisoners quarantined and stop visits from the public to the affected housing units were approved "in an attempt to minimize the spread of the virus," agency officials said in a statement…
LINK - LATimes.com
