DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s largest COVID-19 outbreak is at the Sterling Correctional Facility in northeastern Colorado.

The prison recently tested 479 inmates for COVID-19 with 247 of those results coming back positive.

Despite being home to the state’s largest outbreak, the Department of Corrections has barely tested any inmates at the other 21 prison facilities.

“I was astonished. I don’t think that the inmates are being given proper care,” said a DOC employee who asked for anonymity because the staffer shared internal DOC documents with the Problem Solvers.

The document showed that 12 prisons have tested zero inmates so far.

“Is it a shortage of tests? Perhaps. But I don’t think the inmates are being given the proper care,” the employee said.

Investigative Reporter Rob Low asked the whistleblower, “How realistic is it, in your mind, that these other prisons don’t have problems or outbreaks like Sterling?”

“I think its completely unrealistic,” said the DOC insider, before adding, “They test one wing of one unit in one prison [Sterling Correctional Facility] and almost more than half of the inmates are positive.”

Only a handful of the state’s 16,000 inmates have been tested, and nearly all of them have been at Sterling.

Outside of Sterling, only 30 inmates have been tested across nine prisons. Just one inmate, who was at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex, tested positive. The inmate has since recovered.

Relatives of inmates at the Crowley Correction Center in southern Colorado tell FOX31 they’ve learned that the prison is now on lockdown because of COVID-19 concerns.

The Department of Corrections hasn’t responded to FOX31’s inquiry to confirm if this is true.

“Just because they’re in prison doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t get the same sort of medical treatment as anybody else,” said Jessica Laselle.

Laselle’s boyfriend is currently incarcerated at the Crowley prison.

“He’s just concerned about how quickly it spreads.”

Laselle said that on Thursday morning, a nurse’s aide told her Crowley Correctional Center had gone on lockdown because inmates had been placed in isolation because of high fevers.

Now, LaSalle is worried Crowley could be the site of the next outbreak.

“If somebody is suspected of having COVID, they isolate them. They don’t test them. They don’t do anything to show that there are actually cases there.”

LaSalle’s boyfriend told her one inmate was taken away by ambulance Thursday, but documents shared with the Problem Solvers show that as of Thursday morning, not one inmate at Crowley Correctional Center had been tested.

“This is a death sentence for them. They need to be testing their people. They need to be protecting the inmates at all costs. They’re still people,” said LaSalle.

On Friday, the Problem Solvers received a response from a spokesperson with Crowley Correctional Facility saying the following:

On April 29, an offender that is housed at our Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs, CO, presented to our medical staff with flu-like symptoms. Out of an abundance of caution, this individual was placed in respiratory isolation. On April 30, this individual was transported to a nearby hospital for medical evaluation and treatment. The hospital staff informed our facility leadership and our government partner, Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC), that this individual has tested positive for COVID-19. We have isolated one offender that shared a cell with this individual and have administered a COVID-19 test and are awaiting that result. Appropriate contact tracing will be completed. 

At the direction of our government partner and local health department guidance, any positive COVID-19 test result requires a mandatory 14-day lockdown of the facility in an attempt to proactively mitigate the spread of the virus.

When asked if the Department of Corrections would start testing more inmates statewide, a DOC spokeswoman emailed FOX31 to say, “At this time, the Department is working with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to determine the next appropriate steps regarding any further testing.”