Orange County Detention Center Installs Changes to Protect Inmates from COVID-19

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is taking steps to keep its deputies safe and healthy while still serving the community. Keeping at least six feet away from people when possible, taking more cases over the phone and being cautious to not respond to medical emergencies without the right protective gear are some of the measures being taken.

But those behind bars don’t have the option to practice social distancing. Since the sheriff’s office also oversees the county’s detention center, it’s taking additional measures to help the inmates.

Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said because the center takes in anyone in the county being jailed, there’s concern about ensuring no one brought in exhibits symptoms of the new coronavirus. He said the office quickly worked with a construction company to create a holding area that could properly quarantine someone.

“They took two cells that weren’t in use and actually turned those into negative-pressure rooms,” said Blackwood. “It was a very crude system, but it doesn’t create a problem with the integrity of the jail or any safety issues within the jail.”

The sheriff said now when new detainees enter the center, they get screened by the medical staff and are temporarily held in the low-pressure rooms.

“They’ll stay there until we feel they’re clear and can go into general population [cells],” said Blackwood. “If not, we have protocols set forth by the health director and our medical staff as to what we do with them.”

In addition to setting up the negative-pressure area, the detention center now has air scrubbing systems installed. Blackwood said not only do they help filter out any potential COVID-19 contaminants, but they’ve also helped improve the overall air quality.

One of the new air scrubbers installed at the Orange County Detention Center. (Photo via the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.)

“Before I even got into the guts of the jail,” he described, “I could feel the difference in the air quality. I walked around and talked with inmates in every cell block and they told me, ‘Sheriff, we don’t know what you did, but this is amazing.’ It’s almost like standing in a green park on a cool afternoon and taking in a deep breath.”

The sheriff said while no inmate had expressed concern about catching the coronavirus before the installation of the new measures, the changes were welcome ones anyway.

“When you have people that are confined and are telling you they appreciate the air,” he said, “it really strikes a nerve as to how bad its been. We’d just gotten used to it. But when you make something like that, which seems like a small difference, it’s a big deal [to the inmates].”

It’s not just the inmates that could bring in the virus. The detention center is not allowing any visitation for the next few weeks to encourage social distancing and following health officials’ instructions.

Blackwood said it was a difficult decision to make, largely because there’s no other method for people to visit the jail beside in person.

“We don’t have a video visitation system that will allow us to have teleconferencing for just general visits with the inmates,” he said. “It’s [an option] I believe is very important, not as a substitute for in-person visits, but in cases like this when people can’t get to the jail.”

Video visitation will be set up at the new Orange County Detention Center, which is currently under construction and aims to begin operations in April 2021.

Photo via Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Note: 97.9 The Hill has been Chapel Hill and Orange County’s daily source for free local news since 1953. Please consider making a donation to continue supporting important local journalism like this.

Orange County Detention Center Installs Changes to Protect Inmates from COVID-19

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

On Air Now: 97.9 FM