KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Due to ongoing efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Kalamazoo County Jail has implemented several precautionary measures at its facility.
As a result, the total inmate population in Kalamazoo County is down. The same is true of other neighboring counties. Capacity at the Kalamazoo County jail is normally anywhere between 280-350 inmates, but is currently around 240.
On March 18, Sheriff Fuller posted the list of precautions being taken to the Kalamazoo County website:
- Information on the importance of Personal Hygiene has been disseminated throughout the housing units.
- Public Service Announcements have been placed on the TV’s
- All face to face programming within the facility has been suspended.
- All professional visitors have been restricted from the facility.
- Inmate workers, normally assigned outside of the building, have been re-assigned to cleaning and sanitizing of our interior common areas.
- Deputies have taken on additional responsibilities for cleaning and disinfecting.
- New arrestees are medically screened to quickly identify health risks.
- Medical masks are available for subjects exhibiting symptoms to prevent the spread of illness.
- A quarantine procedure has been established to segregate the ill from healthy populations. (This has not yet been needed)
- The front lobby has been closed to reduce the amount of people entering our facility.
- Attorneys, Probation and Parole agents, and other vital services have been directed on our video conferencing options should they be needed.
- We have placed restrictions on warrant pickups from other counties to reduce the risk of contamination from across the state.
“Each of these preventative measures have been established to help reduce the risk of illness being brought into the facility, as well as preventing the spread of germs and sickness from person to person,” Fuller said. “Knowing the spread of any virus can have a devastating effect on our population and staff, urges me to take warnings from the Governor and President very seriously, and so should you.”
Video arraignments are still being held, although Kalamazoo County courts are closed for the time being.
Similar precautions are being held in Calhoun County, where the jail population is down to around 260.
“We have policies and procedures to prohibit the spread of infectious diseases within our jail, and we have the ability to segregate folks if they need to be quarantined,” Calhoun County Sheriff Matt Saxton said in a statement. “We are doing our best to make sure that any infectious disease does not spread or come into our facility. This is a fluid situation and we’re changing things as we go.”
Elsewhere in southwest Michigan, jail populations are also down in both Berrien and Van Buren counties. The Herald-Palladium reports that in Berrien County, the population was down to 248 from a maximum of 342, which is the lowest its been in 20 years according to Sheriff Paul Bailey.
Meanwhile in Van Buren County, the population was 106 on Tuesday, which is down from an average of 190.
