Inmates at Wyoming Institutions Are Making Face Shields and Cloth Masks

As a constant issue throughout the Covid-19 crisis has been the shortage of personal protection equipment, inmates at Wyoming correctional facilities are in the process of making cloth masks and face shields.

In the past two weeks, approximately 30 inmates from the Wyoming State Penitentiary, the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institute, and the Woman's Wyoming Center have been volunteering to stay late for their shifts to help make cloth masks for the Wyoming Department of Corrections (WDOC) inmates and staff.

The same material being used to make uniforms for the inmates, which are made from twill and poplin material, is being used to create the cloth masks.

Department issued 'sneeze guards' (cloth masks) are required to be worn by everyone inside a WDOC facility, which is in compliance with recommendations made by the CDC. As of April 16th, over 10,000 masks had been produced by the inmates.

Visitation for inmates is currently suspended. However, at this time, there have been no positive cases of COVID-19 reported within the inmate population at any of the WDOC facilities.