JEFFERSON COUNTY, Texas — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is another organization who is taking preventative measures against the spread of the coronavirus.
Sheriff Zena Stephens says the county jail has cancelled all visits to the Jefferson County jail due to COVID-19 concerns.
“We want to keep the correctional facility as sterile as possible, so we had to cancel visitation, which is a big deal,” Stephens said. “Family members aren’t getting the opportunity to see their loved ones, but I want to remind everybody; it’s about the safety.”
The Jefferson County jail is releasing some of the inmates to reduce the number of people inside, among other combative measures against the virus.
Stephens said the county jail would like to reduce the inmate population from 800 to 600 in the next few weeks.
The sheriff said plans are in the works to reduce the bond amounts for non-violent offenders to make it easier for them to be released.
“I don’t want people to be spreading fear and panic. The Jefferson County Jail is still accepting inmates. We’re still housing the most violent people in our community,” Stephens said.
The people who are being released have misdemeanors, health issues, unpaid traffic citations or "aren’t a flight risk," Stephens said. Currently, the number of inmates released is unknown.
Before transporting people to the jail, police officers are asked to clean their patrol cars.
Additionally, she’s asking police not to bring suspects to the jail unless they are violent offenders. If needed, Stephens says the county will re-issue warrants on a later date.
Sheriffs are encouraging judges to set lower bond amounts for smaller crimes, so the jail is not at capacity in terms of the number of inmates.
"It’s just things that the criminal justice system already allows us to do. We can enforce those and activate some of those things that we already have in place to keep the numbers low- again about keeping the community safe so people aren’t in close, confined areas," Stephens said.
Stephens said they're not having jury or civil trials in light of safety concerns.
"We don't need them right now. There's no rush to do that. They're not going to have a trial in the next few weeks, so there's no sense in them to be housed in our facility," Stephens said. "Again we don't want people to panic. We're keeping the bad guys closed into our facility. We're releasing those folks who probably should be out on bond and misdemeanor charges."
Stephens said the county jail is aiming to prevent the community spread of COVID-19 with these policy changes indefinitely.
