Coronavirus In Kane Co.: Jail Prep, Conditions

Press release from Kane County Sheriff's Office: In response to the COVID-19 situation, Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain and his staff have implemented numerous protocols over the last month to help reduce potential exposure and help maintain social distancing and sanitization for his corrections staff and the inmate population in the Kane County Adult Corrections Center.

Sheriff Hain said that he and his staff began discussing the potential impact of COVID-19 with the Kane County Health Department in February and implemented sweeping changes according to plan in early March, as the virus spread east across the US. The Sheriff and staff worked swiftly to enact numerous protocols to maintain the integrity of the jail.
Here is a timeline of the Sheriff’s course of action:

• Week of March 1st, jail medical staff initiated protocols for screening of incoming detainees for COVID-19 and procedures for placing any symptomatic detainees into a negative pressure cell in the jail’s medical unit.
• Week of March 8th, all jail programming provided by outside entities were suspended. The Sheriff and State’s Attorney worked closely to identify the release of non-violent detainees on either electronic monitoring or recognizance bonds. This effort continued for the next few weeks, taking the 640-bed jail population from 491 to 361 as of today (April 10th). Sheriff Hain and his staff continue to scan the jail population and make release recommendations.
• Week of March 15th, an entire cellblock was created as an incoming detainee quarantine area, where detainees are held for observation for up to four weeks before being placed in general jail population. Sanitizing procedures were implemented to cleanse surfaces in the intake area of the jail every two hours, at minimum, and over 1,000 bars of soap were ordered and given to detainees for increased self-care. The Sheriff purchased additional food and dry good reserves in the event supply chains became delayed or severed in the future.
• Week of March 22nd, all visitation for detainees and their family members were suspended and jail residents were provided with additional free phone time to compensate. Ionizer and ozone purification devices were installed in jail intake and holding areas for incoming detainees. The Sheriff’s Office began mandating jail staff to begin wearing face masks and rubber gloves for their entire work shift. Corrections officers were assigned to specific cellblocks to minimize cross-contamination throughout the facility.

To date, the Sheriff’s Office staff and jail population have had no indication or positive tests for COVID-19. Sheriff Hain contributes that to the safeguards put in place and the diligence of his staff in maintaining the recommended personal sanitization and distancing in the course of their duties. The Sheriff and his staff continue to scan and trend to new issues or possible gaps in virus prevention on a daily basis. For example, the Sheriff’s Office has established an Isolation and Quarantine Response Team comprised of trained SWAT and Corrections Response Team Officers who are capable of responding throughout the county to take into custody and transport positive COVID-19 residents who are arrested for more serious crimes. This team is equipped with full protective apparatus and proper police duty gear worn on the outside the protective equipment to effectively perform essential police functions.

The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, Health Department, and Sheriff’s Office have also formed a Civil Compliance Team that works to mitigate with businesses who may be operating outside the Governor’s Executive Orders. “We have not experienced a pandemic and governmental response to this magnitude in our lives before, but we remain fully staffed, well supported, and agile to address whatever new challenges each day brings,” said Sheriff Ron Hain.

This press release was produced by Kane County Sheriff's Office. The views expressed here are the author's own.