Families and friends of Connecticut's prison inmates say the state isn't doing enough to protect their loved ones against COVID-19.

According to numbers on the Connecticut Dept. of Corrections website, there are about 1,000 inmates out of the system's 9,000 inmates who have COVID.

In just the last week, DOC reported two inmates receiving care at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution died from the virus.

News 12 spoke with a mother whose son is from Bridgeport and is an inmate at that same facility. She claims her son says inmates aren't being separated from others if they're COVID-positive.

"If you find out that a person has COVID, you should remove them from that day and put that next person in quarantine by themselves or with someone else who is quarantining - not with someone who is negative. That's not fair," said Maria Gilfillian, whose son is incarcerated at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. "They're human beings just like everybody else. If you cut them open, they have blood the same way. Yes some people make mistakes in life, doesn't mean you have to take it and hold it against them."

News 12 reached out to the state for comment on how they're currently dealing with the COVID cases in these facilities and are waiting for a response back.

As of now, all in-person visits are suspended in the facilities due to Omicron.