Six Victorian jails hit by COVID-19 with staff and prisoners infected

Victoria's prison network has been unable to resist COVID-19 during Melbourne's sixth lockdown, with at least 54 active cases of the virus currently spanning across six jails.

A total of 36 prisoners and 15 staff members were infected with the virus as of yesterday, Corrections Victoria advised.

All in-person personal visits to Victorian prisons are suspended, while any prisoner movement at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, Ravenhall Correctional Centre and Port Phillip Prison has been restricted as contact tracing occurs.

READ MORE: Victoria sets grim COVID-19 case number record

Of the 36 infected prisoners:

• Nineteen are at the Melbourne Assessment Prison
• Eleven are at the Metropolitan Remand Centre
• Five are at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre
• Three are at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre
• One is at Port Phillip Prison

The five cases at Ravenhall stemmed from one prisoner who developed symptoms while in the general prison population.

Corrections Victoria said the four other prisoners who then fell sick were also moved to an isolation unit.

Ravenhall Correctional Centre has been in lockdown since September 25 and transfers in and out are still suspended.

The prison tested 902 prisoners after the first case was identified.

A second round of testing began yesterday, with 749 prisoners tested so far.

Corrections Victoria said no staff members had been infected with COVID-19 via contact with prisoners.

Of the 15 infected staff members:

• Five are at the Metropolitan Remand Centre
• Five are at Ravenhall Correctional Centre
• Two are at Port Phillip Prison
• One is at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre
• One is at Maribyrnong Community Residential Facility
• One is at Barwon Prison

Some prisoners' access to Zoom and telephone calls has been restricted as the prisons lock down movement.

All New South Wales prisons went into lockdown in August following COVID-19 outbreaks at multiple jails.