Thankfully, our Lane County Jail was on top of the Covid 19 outbreak early-on, developing a safety plan for inmates, staff and volunteers, including chaplains. Unfortunately, implementation of the plan included exclusion of our Chaplains Team beginning in mid-March. Loren Crow, Carolyn McDermed and Deacon Tom have not been able to visit inmates since that date. However, our staff liaison, Deputy Peters, has stepped in fulfilling inmate’s requests for religious and other materials as he can. He has also been forwarding inmate requests for visits and prayers to all of us at home via e-mail. We respond to these requests as best we can by U.S. Mail which is no substitute for conversation, but at least the inmate knows someone is listening and praying for them.
Deacon Tom stays in contact with Sheriff Cliff Harold and Captain Clint Riley on a regular basis. As of this writing our jail has had no COVID-19 cases either among staff or inmates.
Unfortunately, Our State prisons have not fared so well with 25 confirmed cases (as of April 24), 12 being staff and 13 inmates at four of the 14 prisons. Please keep all of these people in your prayers.
Highlights of the Lane Co. Jail Safety plan
Assure that staff have access to personal protective equipment specific for their job, which may include gloves, mask, gown, eye protection, and disinfecting materials.
Inmates at the Lane County Jail have access to masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
All new custodies are screened by Wellpath medical professionals prior to being brought into the jail facility to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The jail has medical staff on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
New custodies are placed in a single cell for observation for a minimum of seven days, during which time they are regularly evaluated by medical staff.
In person social visiting has been put on hold. Inmates can access video visitation through Telmate, and are currently receiving one hour per week of video visitation free to help them stay in contact with friends and family.
In response to the Chief Justice’s Order several weeks ago the court staff have worked to reduce the jail population by releasing significantly greater numbers of pre-trial defendants. It is estimated that this action along with that of local police agencies have reduced the jail population by about 30% making social distancing more possible.
For more details on the Sheriff’s Safety Plan go to https://lanecounty.org/government/county_departments/sheriff_s_office and click the COVID-19 INFORMATION button and/or contact Deacon Tom English at english@riousa.com
