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Spread of COVID-19 at Yaroshenko’s jail worsening, says wife

In terms of incidence of the disease Danberry is now on the first place, Yaroshenko’s wife Viktoria said

ROSTOV-ON-DON, April 6. /TASS/. The situation with the spread of the coronavirus in a US prison in Danbury, Connecticut, where Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko is being held, has worsened, Yaroshenko’s wife Viktoria told TASS on Monday.

"In terms of incidence of the disease Danberry is now on the first place. No other prison has such incidence. Kostya says that everyone is infected there. Someone has immunity, someone will get over but someone won’t. There’s nothing to wait for - the prison is infected, the virus is spreading," the pilot’s wife said.

"They don’t take them to hospitals (inmates - TASS), those are full of civilian population," she added. She also said that the US authorities are taking measures to transfer part of the prisoners to house arrest, but this measure is selective.

"These measures are for those who is over 60 years, who has diabetes, a lot of diseases," Yaroshenko explained.

Earlier, US Attorney General William Barr ordered the Prison Bureau to review inmates to determine whether some can be removed from prison and placed under house arrest without endangering the public. According to Reuters, this order will primarily affect prisoners in Elkton, Ohio, and Danberry, Connecticut, as there is the most serious situation with the spread of the new coronavirus.

On March 30, two cases of the novel coronavirus were reported at Yaroshenko’s prison. Later, Konstantin Yaroshenko informed of nine infected prisoners who had been isolated at a separate building. According to him, the virus is spreading across the jail, despite the fact that all blocks are isolated from each other. Yaroshenko himself was diagnosed with acute respiratory infection. The Russian national’s defense plans to make an appeal for his release due to the situation with the COVID-19 epidemic.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was convicted in the United States on September 7, 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He pled not guilty and described his arrest as a provocation and the whole case as a frame-up. Yaroshenko was brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration allegedly exposed Yaroshenko’s criminal intent to transport a large batch of cocaine.

The Russian authorities and the pilot’s family in Rostov-on-Don have repeatedly asked the United States for Yaroshenko’s handover to Russia.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, more than 324,000 coronavirus cases have been identified in the United States, 9,180 patients have died and16,789 have recovered.