Ted Remsnyder reports for Columbia-Greene Media that on Jan. 25 Greene County announced another COVID-19 death, an unidentified inmate at Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie. The prison currently has the highest number of positive cases in the state incarceration system, though this is the first coronavirus death there. The Coxsackie Correctional Facility has had four confirmed COVID-19 deaths. Currently there are 85 active cases with the Greene Correctional Facility, and 19 active COVID cases in the Coxsackie Correctional Facility. Jose Saldana, director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, continued to call for clemency and early releases for many prisoners in the face of the deadly pandemic. “Two different families across the state are receiving the terrible news that their loved ones died cold and alone in the dungeons of mass incarceration, for no reason other than a lack of political will on the part of our elected officials,” Saldana said in a statement. “Their pain is unimaginable. People were dying in New York State prisons every three days before the pandemic, so it’s important to recognize that these COVID deaths are happening on top of a crisis that’s been with us for more than a decade. We call on Gov. Hochul to use her clemency pen to save lives. We also call on New York’s legislative leaders, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie, to pass the Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole bills to provide meaningful pathways to release consideration for incarcerated New Yorkers – and to do it quickly, before more lives are extinguished by their inaction.” Only 53.2 percent of prisoners in state prisons have been partially vaccinated, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Albany County, meanwhile, reported Jan. 27 that a man in his 80s died from coronavirus, the 500th Albany County death. “It saddens me to have to report another Albany County resident losing their life to COVID-19,” Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said. “This is now the 500th death in the county since the pandemic started, and it unfortunately won’t be the last. While we see progress in our fight in some areas, we need to continue doing what we can to protect our most vulnerable from the virus, which is still spreading.” Read more about that story in the Times Union.