LaGrange County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Tracy Harker and LaGrange County Sheriff Jeff Campos talk about a UV light emitting device that kills pathogens like the coronavirus in large areas the sheriff's office purchased to help disinfect the LaGrange County Jail. KPC Media photo by Patrick Redmond
LAGRANGE — As LaGrange County Sheriff Jeff Campos stepped up to the podium in the LaGrange County Commissioners chamber last week to ask permission to purchase three new disinfectant foggers, a small bottle of hand sanitizer peeked out from under his jacket.
Campos has been carrying a bottle of hand sanitizer on his belt for almost six months now. It represents just one of many weapons the sheriff has deployed in his fight to keep his office, his staff, himself, and the inmates he oversees at the LaGrange County Jail safe from the coronavirus pandemic.
The foggers spray a fine mist of disinfectant Campos believes will help his staff more effectively disinfect the small, out of the way areas inside the jail where other methods of cleaning can't reach and where the virus might be hiding. He also said those foggers will be used to help disinfect the interiors of his deputy's police vehicles.
"I don't want COVID in my jail," he said told the commissioners at the meeting.
It's an opinion shared by sheriffs across northeast Indiana as they take extra precautions to keep COVID-19 out of their inmate populations.
"We're following the science," said Steuben County Sheriff Rodney Robinson of his department's fight to keep coronavirus from landing inside his jail.
Since it arrived in Indiana last spring, the coronavirus has cropped up inside several Indiana prisons and jails. Last spring, at least 40 inmates housed at the Porter County Jail tested positive for coronavirus after one member of the jail's kitchen staff brought the virus into the facility. The sheriff's department there worked quickly to isolate and stamp out the virus. And while Porter County Jail is now coronavirus free, it stands as a stark reminder to other law enforcement communities across the state what can quickly happen if safety and cleaning protocols are ignored, even for a day.
"We've been successful on what we believe we have all been collectively doing to properly implement different procedures and disinfectant routines to get this accomplished," Robinson said of the sheriffs and their efforts to keep the virus outside of each county jail.
"I took this virus seriously," Campos explained.
Campos is well aware of the Indiana jails and state correctional facilities that witnessed the virus invade their buildings and infect large populations of inmates.
"That's why we do everything we can to keep it out of here," he added.
Robinson, along with Campos and Noble County Sheriff Max Weber said he and others are relying on guidance provided them about dealing with the coronavirus by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Indiana State Department of Health, Indiana Department of Correction, and the Indiana Sheriffs' Association. The sheriff association, for example, hosts regular virtual meetings and conferences for all of Indiana's 92 sheriffs that keep them up to date about the recommendations to deal with the virus. In addition, all three local sheriffs say they have purchased new state-of-the-art technologies to combat pathogens like the coronavirus, technologies that until this year were used almost exclusively by hospitals and facilities that required a sterile environment.
One of those devices that quickly gained in popularity early this summer, despite its price tag, is a large, portable UV light emitter. Both the LaGrange County sheriff and the Steuben County sheriff purchased those devices. The emitters work by using short-wavelength ultraviolet light to bathe a room in UV light, light is proven to kill or inactivate microorganisms. In addition to killing pathogens like the coronavirus, the machines can inactivate mold and kill harmful bacteria as well.
The Noble County sheriff went a different route and instead installed a UV light device inside his jail's air handling system. That device, he said, cleans and disinfects the air that heats and cools the building.
In addition to new technologies, all three sheriffs said they implemented a myriad of new cleaning and safety protocols at their facilities, policies aimed at hitting the virus where it hides. Jail staff now regularly cleans all high touch area multiple times a shift. In addition, all jail staff members are required to wear PPEs and masks while on duty. Inmates must wear masks when they leave their cells.
So far, those approaches seem to be working.
While COVID-19 has managed to work its way into all three offices at some point during the year, all three departments contained and quelled those coronavirus outbreaks.
Six LaGrange County Sheriff Office officers were sickened by the coronavirus in the spring when one member of the detective bureau inadvertently made contact with an infected individual during an investigation and unknowingly brought the virus in the offices at the jail. All six officers were quarantined and quickly recovered.
That prompted Sheriff Campos to institute several sweeping new protocols at his office, including effectively shutting down his jail to outsiders, and sealing off several departments within his building. For example, deputies rarely enter the building, doing the bulk of their work in their police vehicles using computers and other technologies now in place in those cars. Campos sealed off his dispatch center from the rest of the building and set up a separate entrance for dispatchers to enter the building, keeping them away from the rest of the department's staff.
Inmates may only enter the building through the sallyport. All three entrances in use are equipped with touchless thermometers that each person entering the building must pass through. IF they have an elevated temperature, an alarm will sound alerting the building's senior staff.
Regardless of their health, new inmates are automatically placed in quarantine at all local jails for up to 14 days. Later they are moved into the general population areas of the jail. No one comes to the jail for visitation either. Those visits are now done electronically, using the Internet.
Steuben County Sheriff Rodney Robinson said a couple of his officers tested positive for the virus earlier this year, infections he believes they caught while off duty. However, his safety protocols kept the virus from entered his jail.
"I've had no inmate COVID cases," he said.
At least two Noble County officers tested positive for the virus, said Weber, as well as at least two inmates. All four of those cases were isolated and treated.
In addition to changes made within their building, all three sheriffs said they also enacted policies stipulating how their staff members are to interact with the community at large outside of their respective buildings. Field officers are required to wear masks and use PPEs when interacting with people.
All of the new technology, as well as the cost to outfit deputies and others with PPE, pay for disinfectants and sanitizers, can be reimbursed each county by funds made available through the state and the federal CARES Act. That has helped take the high cost of staying safe while fighting the pandemic off the backs of local governments.
Campos said he even asked his staff to curtail some off duty activities, including asking several staff members to forgo family visits and out of state vacations when possible. Campos said he knows those weren't popular decisions, but necessary.
"I asked my staff to think about what would happen if they brought COVID back here," he said.
In the end, however, Campos has nothing but praise for his staff, his deputies, his jailers, and how they've responded to the challenges presented by the coronavirus.
"I just can't say enough good things about my staff," he explained. "They've been fantastic, and have gone above and beyond."
All three sheriffs expect many of the policies and procedures enacted to deal with the coronavirus pandemic will continue to play a role in local jails long after the pandemic subsides.
In addition to keeping coronavirus out of jail, those safety and cleaning procedures appear to have also kept out common illnesses like colds, influenza, and strep throat, all of which tend to spread quickly in confined environments like jails. That, said Robinson, has already helped reduce the cost of providing medical care in jails.
© Copyright 2024 KPC Media Group, Inc.