2nd Washington state inmate dies of COVID-19. Both at Connell prison

A second inmate at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell has died because of the COVID-19 respiratory illness, the state reported Wednesday night.

William Bryant, 72, died Monday night at a hospital after being transported from the long-term minimum custody unit, said a news release.

The unit is in the medium security complex which has been hard hit for several weeks by a coronavirus outbreak — the worst at a Washington state prison.

Bryant was taken to an unnamed hospital for medical treatment on June 13 and remained there until he died.

“The Department of Corrections is sad to announce its second COVID-19 related death,” Corrections Secretary Stephen Sinclair said in the release. “We’ve continued to escalate our response at Coyote Ridge to help prevent the spread of this virus and protect the staff as well as the remaining individuals housed there.”

Bryant was serving a 68-month sentence for a first-degree child molestation conviction in Grays Harbor County. His earliest release date was April 2022.

The Coyote Ridge Corrections Center began COVID-19 testing Wednesday for all employees at both the medium security complex and the minimum security unit, as well as the inmates in the medium security area.

Washington National Guard will be helping with expanded testing, the Washington State Department of Corrections announced Wednesday.

As of Wednesday night, 43 state employees have tested positive, as well as 110 inmates.

The state said 1,852 individuals are quarantined, meaning they were exposed but do not have symptoms and are separated from healthy people.

Another 23 inmates are in isolation, meaning they have symptoms and are separated from healthy people.

The corrections department said in a news release it is working with the Benton Franklin Health District and the Washington Department of Health and the Washington National Guard to conduct testing at the facility..

Last week, Coyote Ridge inmate Victor Bueno died from COVID-19 complications.

The 68-year-old died three months before he was due to be released after serving nearly three years for violating a protection order.

While the Department of Corrections had not yet responded to repeated questions from the Herald, Franklin County Commissioner Clint Didier said during a commission meeting Tuesday that he was told by Coyote Ridge Superintendent Jeffrey Utecht that serial testing will take place, testing inmates every five days.

The only other serious outbreak has been at the Monroe Correctional Complex where 19 inmates and 10 employees have tested positive — 65-year-old correctional officer Berisford Morse died in mid-May from complications from COVID.

Morse is the only state corrections department prison employee to die from the virus.

This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 7:37 PM.