INDIANAPOLIS -- Flags will be flown at half-staff Friday in many places to honor two Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) guards who died as a result of COVID-19.
On Thursday, Governor Eric Holcomb ordered all flags to be lowered to half-staff Friday in Marion County and all Department of Correction facilities and parole district offices in remembrance of Indiana Women's Prison Correctional Officer Francine Earls.
The women's prison is located on the Indianapolis west side.
Earls is one of two IDOC officers to die as a result of the virus. The other is Wabash Valley Correctional Officer Gary Weinke.
To honor Weinke, the governor has ordered all flags lowered Friday in Greene and Sullivan counties, along with all IDOC facilities and parole offices in the state.
The Wabash Valley facility is in Carlisle, south of Terre Haute.
COVID-19 has been a tremendous problem within the state's prisons. 176 employees have tested positive. Among inmates, there have been seven deaths and 346 positive cases. More than 4,000 offenders have been placed in isolation or quarantine.
