TEXAS - The first Texas prisoner has died after testing positive for the new coronavirus, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced Wednesday.

The inmate was 72 and had been in prison at the Telford Unit near Texarkana. Shortly after announcing the death, the prison system said it was locking down 15 prisons where there have been positive cases.

The issue of reducing the prison population in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus has become a big flashpoint during the crisis.

“The number one recommendation of every expert in the country right now is we have to depopulate the facilities. Release people from these prisons and jails to de-densify the spaces,” said Michele Deitch, a lecturer at the LBJ School at UT-Austin and a prison oversight expert.

Click the video link above to watch her full interview.