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The state will allow a five-member panel to review its efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 after more than 2,700 inmates were infected.

The filing argues the threat from Covid-19 inside Hawaii prisons and jails is greater now than it was last year when some prisoners were released.

Staff members at the Oahu Community Correctional Center blame the failure to follow proper procedures to reduce infections.

Settlement talks are underway including the creation of a panel to oversee reforms needed to cope with the pandemic in Hawaii’s prisons and jails.

The murder of Jacob Russell, 56, drew attention to Hawaii’s practice of withholding information when inmates die in custody.

Inmates at Maui Community Correctional Center and Halawa Correctional Facility test positive this week.

COVID-19 infections among five staff at Saguaro Correctional Center prompt the lockdown in a unit of the facility.

The governor is also considering mandating vaccinations for workers at correctional facilities, which have seen recent outbreaks in unsanitary conditions.

The state is on track to have more fatalities in correctional facilities in 2021 than in any year in the past decade.

Consultant projections show hundreds more people will need to be incarcerated if no significant policy changes such as bail reform don’t reduce the number of inmates.