A federal judge ordered the Texas prison system on Tuesday to provide more protective measures against the coronavirus, like hand sanitizer for wheelchair-bound prisoners, at a prison for geriatric inmates. Texas has had more inmate deaths related to the coronavirus than any other prison system in the nation. Its death toll of at least 162 inmates outranks every other state as well as the federal prison system. More than 20 Texas prison employees have also died with the virus. The trial included testimony from several inmates, TDCJ officials and experts on health and prison conditions.

Two Texas prisons each have more than 670 inmates with active coronavirus infections, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the highest counts seen at any state lockup since the pandemic began. At the massive Coffield Unit in East Texas, 753 inmates recently tested positive — 19% of prisoners there, according to TDCJ data. Aside from Stiles, three other state-run prisons and jails had at least 25% of their inmates with active coronavirus infections Monday. Since March, more than 12,000 Texas prisoners and 2,100 TDCJ employees at dozens of prisons have had confirmed infections of the new coronavirus. TDCJ began testing all inmates at dozens of units in mid-May, with more than 100,000 coronavirus tests on inmates completed by June 10, according to agency reports.

The legislation authorizing the payments during the pandemic doesnt specifically exclude jail or prison inmates, and the IRS has refused to say exactly what legal authority it has to retrieve the money. While the IRS says checks sent to jail inmates also should be returned, the sheer number of jails and detention centers across the U.S. makes it difficult to tell if many are following those instructions. She says prison officials are accustomed to intercepting tax documents to screen for potential scams, priming them to follow this request. Intercepting relief checks may also have a disproportionate impact on Black and Hispanic inmates, who are incarcerated at a higher rate than white Americans. Prison officials nationwide have been trying to intercept the checks, with varying results.

HOUSTON – Mayor Sylvester Turner announced 183 new COVID-19 cases in the city of Houston Saturday. He said 77 of those cases involved people in homeless shelters, which is about 40%. Turner said homeless shelters are one of three Houston areas to monitor. “We are now testing people in our homeless shelter, and what we are finding is there are people who are infected with this virus,” Turner said. Houston officials have announced more than 6,300 COVID-19 cases since March, including 124 coronavirus-related deaths.