SALT LAKE CITY — Lockdown protocols have been activated in a portion of the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City as over 100 inmates are being treated for scabies after one person tested positive for the skin disease.
The Utah Department of Corrections said a total of 140 inmates in the prison's geriatric unit have been quarantined and will be treated, although all the inmates except the one infected individual have tested negative.
Due to the medical issue, the geriatric building is closed to visitors until all the treatments have been completed. The department expects the restrictions to be lifted on Monday.
Scabies is an infestation of the skin by parasitic mites and is considered to be highly contagious through skin-to-skin contact.
Along with the inmate treatments, prison officials will wash all clothing and bedding with a disinfectant, and other areas of the unit will be cleaned. The geriatric unit is an open dormitory style building with 4-bed pods.
The department said the scabies issue is occurring at the same time as a different skin rash outbreak is affecting inmates in multiple units at the prison, which officials say is not contagious but makes it difficult to identify scabies patients.
