A 72-year-old man in prison who tested positive for the coronavirus has died, marking the first Texas prisoner to die from COVID-19.
Bartolo Infante died in medical isolation at a Texarkana hospital Tuesday after he was hospitalized for viral pneumonia, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said. Infante, who was housed at the Telford Unit near Texarkana, tested positive for COVID-19 on April 3.
Prison officials said he had a history of pre-existing medical conditions.
The entire Telford Unit is under a medical restriction after four employees have tested positive for the virus. Seven prisoners are in medical isolation.
On Tuesday, TDCJ announced it’s investigating if the death of an officer was related to COVID-19.
Kelvin Wilcher, an officer at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville, died at a Houston hospital after testing positive.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 36 TDCJ employees, staff or contractors and 28 prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19.
There are 10,692 prisoners in medical restriction across TDCJ's 110 prisons.