Activists raise concern for inmates after doctor at Waupun Correctional Institution tests positive for COVID-19

WAUPUN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A group of activists are concerned there will be a big outbreak of the coronavirus in a Wisconsin prison after a prison doctor tested positive for the virus. 

The doctor who works at the Waupun Correctional Institution recently traveled to Italy and tested positive for COVID-19 last week. 

Activists say the Department of Corrections was unprepared for a situation like this and haven't handled it well so far. They say 43 inmates who had interactions with the doctor were tested but results haven't come back yet. 

They say the problem is going to get a lot worse. 

"The mortality rate in the prisons in going to be higher than in the general population. Prisons have a higher density of aging people and people with chronic illness and compromised immune system s it’s going to be a lot more people dying in there and it will eventually spread out. There’s no way, the guards are coming and going from the facilities. There’s no way to contain to keep Coronavirus out of a prison and there’s no way to keep it in once it spreads there,” said Ben Turk, a volunteer for Forum For Understanding Prison. 

CBS 58 reached out to the Department of Corrections for comment and we're waiting to hear back.