Despites efforts to prevent it, some inmates of the Yellowstone County Detention Facility have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Sheriff Mike Linder said that while it wasn’t realistic to expect that the jail would escape unscathed by the virus, they began early on taking preventive measures and implementing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for jails.
On May 26, detention officials were notified that a woman who had been transported to the hospital for treatment had tested positive for COVID-19. Follow up testing of 34 inmates and 41 jail staff, confirmed last week that seven more women inmates and one detention officer tested positive for the virus.
Linder said that they are continuing to work with the county health department, RiverStone Health, to implement as many safeguards as possible to prevent the spread of the disease. Fortunately, he said, the new addition to the jail has separated pods, which allows them to isolate those with the disease from the rest of the jail population. Only one inmate remains hospitalized.
Officials expressed confidence that they will be able to keep the spread of the disease to a minimum.
According to Linder, 28 female inmates testing negative are being quarantined and observed for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. The investigation into individual cases is ongoing and interviews are being conducted by RiverStone Health to trace contacts.
Prosecutors and the courts have been acting on requests for release or bail reduction by medically vulnerable inmates, and that will continue. Cases in which there is disagreement about the advisability of release are heard before a judge.
The Sheriff said that while the jail population dropped significantly right after the first news of the COVID-19 virus was announced, crime has since increased and so has the jail population, which currently stands at near capacity of 434 inmates.
