CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Department of Corrections has returned over 100 inmates from facilities in other states in a move delayed by the coronavirus.

Corrections officials announced Monday that 88 male inmates housed at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi, and about 30 female inmates at a county detention center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, have returned to Wyoming.

Corrections Department Director Bob Lampert says inmates housed closer to relatives and other support systems do better in the long run than inmates kept out of state.

The inmates originally were to be returned by mid-April but concerns about the potential spread of COVID-19 delayed those plans.

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