Swine flu case shuts down visits at all 33 state prisons

By Loretta Kalb
Published: Sunday, May. 3, 2009 - 4:35 pm

The worry over swine flu eased at a junior high school campus in Davis on Sunday, but it worsened in the state prison system where visitations were suspended until further notice.

The Davis Joint Unified School District, which had announced Friday it intended to shut down Holmes Junior High School for at least a week based on advice from state health officials, got the all-clear signal Sunday when a student's probable case of swine flu turned out to be another form of influenza.

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At the Officer of the Receiver for California Prison Health Care Services, spokesman Luis Patino said Sunday that an inmate in Centinela State Prison in Imperial County was diagnosed as probable for the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

"The inmate and his cellmate have been isolated, Patino said. "They remain at the prison."

George Kostyrko, spokesman for the state Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, said visitations at the state's 33 adult prisons, 6 youth facilities - including two in Stockton - and a small number of community-based facilities would be suspended until further notice.