Kevin Cook spent two years inside McNaughton Correctional Center in Oneida County.
He was there from Jan. 9, 2019 to Dec. 7, 2020, part of more than two decades behind bars for his role in a gang-related homicide in 1994.
While at McNaughton, Cook experienced first hand what it meant to be incarcerated during a pandemic.
"COVID just spread like wildfire throughout the whole center," Cook said.
He said that it was September when an inmate at McNaughton tested positive for the coronavirus.
"So that started an avalanche," Cook said. "In one unit, the inmates there, they have to share a bathroom; they have to share the showers; they have to share everything; and there is no way to avoid contact."
Cook said those inmates were isolated in their unit, but he said it didn't stop the spread of COVID-19.
As of Thursday, The Wisconsin Department of Corrections reportshows there have been 71 positive COVID-19 tests at McNaughton since mid-March.
Cook said he was one of them. He said he tested positive about a month after his cellmate developed COVID-like symptoms.
He said staff wouldn't test his cellmate for COVID-19 at the time, as the National Guard tested a larger group of inmates, including Cook and his cellmate, a few days prior. That initial test came back negative. Cook said it was a few days after the National Guard testing his cellmate presented COVID-like symtoms.
"I had to stay in the room with my cellie and as a result I tested positive," Cook said.
Prison reform advocates said that's a concern.
“We have had a lot of people that have said that they wanted to be tested, because they started to have symptoms or they believed they had symptoms, and then they were told that they had to wait," said Peggy West-Schroder, WISDOM statewide campaign coordinator
John Beard, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, said McNaughton officials weren't informed of the symptoms Cook's cellmate experienced. Beard said policy is to test individuals experiencing symptoms, as well as intake, release and transfers.
He said the DOC has been working with the National Guard and Wisconsin Department of Health Services on "monitor testing," where officials will return to institutions that had an outbreak to check for lingering cases.
“We’re not in the habit of denying tests to people," Beard said. "We want to know if someone is positive, especially initially so we can isolate them to the best extent possible.”
Beard said DOC policy is to medically isolate positive cases and quarantine persons exposed, which became a challenge when case numbers increased in the fall.
"Even the large facilities don’t have the space at some point if the numbers get high," Beard said. "Prisons aren't designed to have large, separate areas for people. It's not designed to have a large quarantine or area."
Schroder believes the challenge goes further.
"Our prisons are overcrowded," Schroder said.
The latest DOC population report shows original capacity at McNaughton is 55. The facility currently houses 94 inmates.
"When you're living on top of people there's just simply no way that you can protect them," Schroder said.
Inmates can be vaccinated, but the plan is controversial.
Incarcerated individuals in Wisconsin are part of the current COVID vaccine eligibility group in phase 1B.
"Let's make this about who actually needs to be vaccinated," Schroder said. "It's for public safety for your community, because if COs are bringing in the virus to a facility, and people in their care get that virus, they're then passing it on to other people that work there, who then go out and bring it back to the community."
Not everyone agrees.
"I just don't think that inmates should get a fast pass to the front of this line," said state Rep. David Steffen, (R) Green Bay.
Steffen proposed a bill that would do the opposite, making it so inmates younger than 60 would not qualify for the COVID-19 vaccine until 21 days after it's available to the general public.
That bill has been referred to the Committee on Health.
"It comes down to some simple elements. One is a very simple question: Should a murderer of three get a vaccine ahead of a mother of three? I think it's a very simple way to look at this entire situation," Steffen said.
According to the most recent inmate profile, 5 percent of inmates are serving a life sentence. About 65 percent have five years or fewer to serve on their sentence.
The DOC prison releases dashboard shows an average of about 9,000 inmates are released each year into Wisconsin communities, whether they are vaccinated or not, according to Beard. The data shows 465 were released into Brown County in 2020.
Cook said he was released COVID positive on December 7. He said he had a mild case and went to an apartment to isolate.
Although he's now on the outside, Cook said he would like to see inmates vaccinated. NBC26 asked when he thinks prisoners should be in the vaccine rollout.
"Whether that turn is now or later, please, just make us human," Cook said. "Don't put us in a category of 'you are not our priority.'"
As of now, those who are incarcerated remain ahead of those with certain medical conditions and members of the general public to get the COVID vaccine.
The DOC reportedThursday 31 active COVID-19 cases across its 37 institutions. The total number of cases in state prisons now reaches 10,901 since mid-March and 25 deaths.
The state has seen more than 6,500 COVID related deaths overall, counting all of Wisconsin during that same time.
