The Justice Department has assured that the Beechworth Correctional Centre is free of COVID-19 after at least one prisoner was transported there from a facility that was placed into lock-down.
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On July 17, a prisoner who was in protective quarantine at the Metropolitan Remand Centre returned a positive result to coronavirus.
Corrections Victoria then announced on July 21 that a GEO prison officer at Ravenhall Correctional Centre had also returned a positive test.
While the officer's contact with other staff and prisoners was determined, Ravenhall and a further five prisons were placed into lockdown as a precaution.
The Border Mail understands a group arrived at Beechworth and went into isolation, with at least some of the prisons they came from being locked down prior to them getting to the North East facility.
Corrections Victoria was asked which facilities prisoners were moved from, and whether Corrections was restricting the number of prisoners from the greater Melbourne being transferred to regional facilities such as Beechworth.
"We do not comment on prisoner transfers for security reasons," a spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Community Safety said.
"There are no cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) at Beechworth Correctional Centre."
All new prisoners are tested and required to spend 14 days in protective quarantine, regardless of coronavirus risk.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Personal visits remain suspended, while staff and professional visitors are screened and temperature-checked prior to entering a facility.
Control measures include physical distancing, increased hygiene standards and use of personal protective equipment.
The Ravenhall Correctional Centre employee's infection was traced to community transmission.
All Victorian prisons that were locked down resumed normal operations on July 25.
The Melbourne Assessment Prison was placed into temporarily lockdown on Tuesday, with prisoners recording positive tests.
