CONNELL– At approximately 7 p.m., on Monday, June 22, 2020, incarcerated individual William Bryant, 72, passed away at a local medical facility due to COVID-19. He was transported from the long-term minimum custody unit in the Medium Security Complex at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center (CRCC) in Connell, Wash. for outside medical treatment on June 13, 2020, where he remained until the time of his passing.

“The Department of Corrections is sad to announce its second COVID-19 related death,” said Corrections Secretary Stephen Sinclair. “We’ve continued to escalate our response at Coyote Ridge to help prevent the spread of this virus and protect the staff as well as the remaining individuals housed there.”

Mr. Bryant was serving a 68-month sentence for first-degree child molestation out of Grays Harbor County. His earliest release date was April 14, 2022.

Coyote Ridge Corrections Center (CRCC)  began COVID-19 testing of employees at the Medium Security Complex (MSC) and Minimum Security Unit (MSU) as well as the incarcerated population at MSC today, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. CRCC is working in partnership with the Benton-Franklin Health District, Washington Department of Health and the Washington National Guard to conduct the testing. Washington Department of Health and National Guard employees are providing assistance with the testing of the CRCC employees and incarcerated individuals, similar to the testing efforts in surrounding communities.

The facility currently has:

  • 43 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among staff, including 4 in Correctional Worker Core training, and 110 confirmed cases among its incarcerated population as of June 24, 2020;
  • 23 individuals in isolation, meaning the individuals have symptoms and are separated from healthy people, as of June 23, 2020; and
  • 1,852 individuals on quarantine as of June 23, 2020, meaning they were exposed but do not have symptoms and are separated from healthy people.

Corrections has added a column on its web site to document COVID-related deaths and will post future deaths at that location.