SACRAMENTO, Calif. — (AP) — Officials say a second California state prison employee has died after testing positive for the coronavirus. The plant operations employee at Ironwood State Prison in eastern Riverside County died Wednesday.
Spokeswoman Dana Simas released no additional information, citing the family’s privacy. The first death of an employee who tested positive for the virus was of California Rehabilitation Center Correctional Officer Danny Mendoza, who died Saturday in the same county.
Nearly 400 department employees have tested positive, but nearly half of those have returned to work. There are more than 2,200 inmates with active cases.
Twelve inmates have died, all at the California Institution for Men in San Bernardino County.