Jail taking steps to protect inmates, staff from infection

Published 10:15 am Saturday, March 28, 2020

Even as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) pushes out guidance on how to take precautions against contracting COVID-19 coronavirus in the workplace, those who deal with close populations are faced with a more stringent set of challenges to keep their environments disease-free.

At the Cullman County Detention Center, a facility designed to accommodate around 320 inmates, sheriff Matt Gentry and the detention center staff have taken a number of additional steps to protect both inmates and employees, including an outright temporary ban on visitors, other than attorneys who must be admitted on a case-by-case basis.

“What helps us is that we already were prepared because of the precautions we take during flu season,” said Gentry. “A couple of months ago we began those preparations, and then when this [COVID-19] hit, that made it easier for us to change our procedures.

“We’ve locked down who can come in and out of the facility, and every employee and inmate is having their temperatures checked twice each day. we also have a quarantine in place for those who have been arrested and have not cleared the 14-day span for showing signs of the virus.”

Like grocery stores, hospitals, nursing homes, and other places where conducting daily business involves many people occupying the same space, the jail also is taking extra steps to disinfect the surfaces with which people come into contact.

“We’re deep cleaning the jail twice a day,” said Gentry. “We just bought a new sanitizing machine, and we are using it not only to clean the jail, but also the sheriff’s office as well.”

While the main lobby at the sheriff’s office itself has remained open, a permanent glass barrier has long been in place to physically separate reception staff from lobby traffic. For now, the temporary restrictions are set to expire on April 30, though the sheriff’s office intends to take stock of the coronavirus situation at that time as it weighs whether to extend its precautionary measures.