Employee of Thumb Correctional Facility tests positive for coronavirus

A prison employee at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer has tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of Michigan Department of Corrections employees with positive tests to three.

It is the first positive COVID-19 test for an employee who works in a facility that houses Michigan Department of Corrections prisoners.

"We have alerted the staff there, posted notices at the facility and contacted their close contacts," department spokesman Chris Gautz said.

He would not specify what prison job the employee had, saying that would narrow down who the employee might be and would violate federal health privacy laws.

More: Coronavirus is changing life for Michigan prisoners, too. Here's how.

More: 2 Michigan corrections employees test positive for COVID-19

Earlier, the Free Press reported that a department employee who works at the Detroit Detention Center and another who is a probation agent who works at the Jackson County probation office tested positive for COVID-19.

On March 13, the Corrections Department halted visits to all 30 Michigan prisons and announced it had begun screening of anyone entering Michigan prisons, in an attempt to keep the virus outside prison walls.

The Detroit Detention Center operates under an agreement between the Detroit Police Department and the Michigan Department of Corrections and holds detainees for up to 72 hours prior to arraignment. The detainees are arrested by the Detroit Police Department. The offenders are not considered state prisoners and are not transferred to state prisons, Gautz said earlier.

Probation officers do not normally work inside prisons. After the Jackson officer tested positive, all county probation office staff were ordered quarantined for 14 days and the Jackson County courthouse was temporarily closed.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.