Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — While the spread of the COVID-19 inside the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) has been making headlines, a report is now revealing that 4 juveniles confined at the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) tested positive for COVID last Friday.

This was also confirmed to Samoa News by a senior officer at the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

The 4 juveniles have been in isolation since Friday and they’re all in stable condition. A health worker from the Department of Health (DoH) is monitoring these juveniles to make sure they receive the treatment and the service they need.

There’s no confirmed explanation at this point in time as to how the virus got into the JDC.

A family member of one of the juvenile who tested positive last week is very concerned about safeguarding the juveniles inside the facility and has called out to the Police Commissioner for immediate action on the problem.

“I suspect that our children inside the JDC contacted the virus from employees who are coming and going to the JDC everyday,” the parent of one juvenile said.

Another parent is asking the Task Force for an immediate review of all Correctional Facility guards who tested positive within the past 3 weeks.

“I have a strong feeling that they would be the ones in contact with the inmates and juveniles,” said another juvenile parent, adding that “The Police Commissioner needs to seriously address this issue immediately because parents and families are very concerned about their loved ones serving time in TCF and JDC.

Of 296 inmates and detainees at the TCF tested this week, 226 were positive — and 44 were assessed to be in need of treatment.

There are no figures available on how many have been vaccinated. Neither DPS nor the Department of Health (DoH) have the numbers, but said ‘several’ have received both shots.

A senior official at the TCF said buildings holding female and male inmates have been divided into sections to separate the positive cases from those inmates who don’t have the virus.

The tents, which have been set up outside the cell blocks, are to handle any overflow of positive cases. 

“We were informed by a DoH official last week that there will be more testing in TCF early this week in an effort to control the spread of the virus in the compound,” one of the senior officials at TCF told Samoa News.

When asked for more clarification, DoH director, Motusa Tuileana Nua confirmed to Samoa News that his staff will visit the TCF compound early this week for more testing.

The main focus at this time, according to the DoH director is to get the spread of the virus under control by separating those inmates who test positive from inmates who don’t have symptoms of the virus.

Based on the release from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) last week, the DoH conducted COVID-19 testing at the TCF last Wednesday and out of 117 tested, on that day — including DoH staff — 88 were positive. Six inmates were transferred to the Tafuna Alternate Care Facility for treatment that day.

The testing continued the following day and from 174 inmates tested, 138 tested positive. 38 were assessed for treatment.

(Samoa News points out that the first day of testing last Wednesday was the same day the Samoa News published its first story about the COVID spread at TCF on the front page.)

The EOC release said the Departments of Health, Homeland Security, and Public safety are implementing mitigation measures to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in TCF. This includes designating separate spaces for those who test positive.

Police Commissioner Lefiti Falelaulii Pese was not in his office when Samoa News contacted him last week for a comment regarding the TCF and JDC conditions. A woman who answered his office telephone said Lefiti hasn’t been coming into the office for awhile now — he’s working from home.

One of the deputy commissioners is currently off island while the other deputy commissioner was also not available last week for comment.

However, parents and families of the inmates have a lot of questions for the DPS leadership and they are desperate for answers.

Parents and families of the inmates and juveniles want to know if DPS even has a plan on how to deal with the outbreak among inmates and juveniles. They want to know how they’re going to handle the situation especially the safeguarding of more than 300 persons — inmates, juveniles, personnel and guards inside the compound(s).

A senior TCF guard did not want to comment on how the virus may have entered the facility. The guard stated that under the emergency declaration for COVID-19 there’s been no visitation allowed to the TCF.

The guard further stated that if it weren’t for the live video posted on Facebook by Siaumau Siaumau Jr, the public wouldn’t know what was going on inside TCF and how the virus has spread like wildfire among inmates.

The guard revealed that Siaumau Jr was transported to the LBJ on the afternoon of Mar. 18 from TCF by an EMS crew after he had fever, body aches, a running nose and cough. Siaumau tested positive for COVID.

However, upon returning to his cell, Siaumau Jr was not isolated from other inmates.

While many people are focused on the spread of the virus, a former police commander was more concerned with the presence of a contraband cell phone inside TCF. This was the same concern raised by many people who commented on the Samoa News website about Siaumau Jr’s. Facebook live feed.

The retired cop said cell phones or any other contraband is prohibited inside the cells and DPS needs to look into this matter immediately.