The Florida Department of Corrections said there were no inmate infections so far among the 96,000 people incarcerated in Florida prisons.

Twelve prison employees in Florida have tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus that has expanded across the globe.

The DOC reported Tuesday that three employees at the privately operated Blackwater Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa County tested positive, and one employee tested positive at each of the following:

/ DOC's Region 3 operations office, based in Tampa

/ Region 4 probations office, based in Jacksonville.

The DOC employs more than 24,000 people who run 144 state prisons and supervise 161,000 former inmates.

Trying to delay the arrival of COVID-19 in the prison population, DOC previously suspended visitation at the state's prisons, adjusted probation reporting scheduled to minimize gatherings at probation offices, and suspended inmate furloughs.

Federal prisons too have faced challenges as the coronavirus pandemic has expanded across Florida and other states.

Ray Coleman, Jr., president of AFGE local 1570, a labor union representing over 200 federal correctional workers in Tallahassee, said the system has been overlooked by the pandemic.

He wrote in a Phoenix column recently: "Prison employees, who become more susceptible to the disease, leave work every day and go home to their kids and families. Some even visit their parents in elderly facilities. Even while on duty many are escorting and monitoring inmates at local courts, hospitals and emergency rooms."

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.