The Gurney Unit prison is operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Tennessee Colony.

Roughly 37% of the inmates with coronavirus in Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons are in the Beto Unit in Anderson County.

According to TDCJ records, the Beto Unit, located in the community of Tennessee Colony, has 72 inmates who have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Monday afternoon. This number was at 43 on Friday.

Across the state, 85 TDCJ employees, staff or contractors and 193 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19.

TDCJ announced last week that the 15 facilities with an inmate or employee who have tested positive will be placed on lockdown.

Under the lockdown, only staff assigned to the facilities can go there. The precautionary lockdown will last for at least 14 days from the date of the positive test.

Also in Tennessee Colony are Coffield, Gurney, Michael, and Powledge Units. The Coffield Unit has two negative test results, the Gurney Unit has one negative, the Michael Unit has four negative and the Powledge Unit has five negative test results.

The Skyview Unit in Rusk is among 85 workers who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

This person is a contractor who works for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and did not interact with inmates, Jeremy Desel, TDCJ director of communications, said.

Offenders, who might have been exposed to a disease and could have been exposed but don’t show symptoms, are placed into medical restriction to protect people who are well.

Those under medical restriction receive temperature checks twice daily and anyone interacting with them must wear an N-95 mask and glove personal protective equipment, the TDCJ statement reads.

All correctional staff at TDCJ facilities should wear cotton masks at all times and have been encouraged to wear the masks off-duty while in public.

Those who are sick and contagious are placed into medical isolation to restrict movement of ill people.

In the Beto Unit, there are 2,022 inmates in medical restriction and 100 inmates in medical isolation.

The decision to initiate a lockdown was made after an inmate at TDCJ facility in New Boston died possibly due to coronavirus.

On April 8, TDCJ reported the death of Bartolo Infante, 72, who was an inmate from the Telford Unit in New Boston. He was in medical isolation at a community hospital in Texarkana. He was hospitalized for pneumonia when he tested positive for COVID-19 on April 3. He died last Tuesday.

Other units under the precautionary lockdown are Baten, Bell, Byrd, Clements, Crain, Darrington, ETTF, Estelle, Goree, Hutchins, Leblanc, Murray, Robertson, Scott, Smith, Stringfellow, Telford, Terrell, Woodman and Wynne.