More than 4,500 offenders in Illinois run correctional facilities have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
One of the lowest totals is at the Pinckneyville Correctional Center, where just four inmates have tested positive.
Warden Jeffery Dennison says the key has been an aggressive approach to stopping outbreaks before they could happen.
"Anytime we have an offender who has a sniffle, we put them in isolation. We have a medical ward set up where we put them in isolation and we temperature check them and COVID test them and we're doing flu tests also. We got hand sanitizer all over the facility. Whenever offenders come out for a med line, we spray their hands with hand sanitizer when they come in and when they go."
Dennison says staff and inmates are required to wear masks at all times. He says signs throughout the prison remind staff to cover their faces and wash their hands frequently.
