Coyote Ridge inmate dies from COVID-19 three months before his release

A 63-year-old Coyote Ridge inmate is the first Washington state inmate to die from the coronavirus.

Victor Bueno has been behind bars in in the medium security complex at the Connell prison since September 2017. He was convicted of violating a protection order in Kitsap County.

He was taken to a local medical center on May 31 for treatment, according to the state Department of Corrections.

He was three months from his estimated Sept. 18 release date.

“The Department of Corrections is saddened by this loss,” said Corrections Secretary Stephen Sinclair. “The health and safety of the incarcerated individuals, the community and our staff remains our top priority.”

The prison has been at the epicenter of an outbreak in Franklin County.

As of Friday, 96 inmates and 40 staff members have tested positive for the virus. This is seven more cases than were reported Thursday.

The outbreak is by far the largest in all of the state prison systems. The only other serious outbreak occurred at the Monroe Correctional Complex where 19 inmates and 10 employees tested positive.

The prison has 1,784 medium-security Inmates in quarantine, which means they may have been exposed to the virus. There are 17 more people who are in isolation because they have symptoms and are separated from healthy people.

They announced plans on Tuesday to test all staff members in the facility, and people housed in the medium security complex.

This is a change for the prison, which had only been testing people who became sick.

Family and friends of loved ones in the prison planned to protest in Olympia Friday. They were calling for mandatory testing across the prison.

This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Coyote Ridge inmate dies from COVID-19 three months before his release."