Sheriff Suspends All County Jail Visits Due To Coronavirus

RIVERHEAD, NY — Starting Tuesday, all visits with inmates at the Suffolk County Correctional Facilities, both contact and non-contact, are temporarily suspended in order to limit the spread of coronavirus in county jails, according to Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon.

Attorneys can still make arrangements to visit their clients, he said.

Also, Toulon added, pistol licensing will be closed until further notice, effective Tuesday.

“By limiting the number of people entering our facilities, we can better protect our staff, inmates, and the general public from community spread of COVID-19,” Toulon said.

There are no cases of coronavirus within the Suffolk County jails, Toulon said, but the decision was made to control the potential spread of the illness.

Last week, Toulon put the brakes on all volunteer activities within the facilities. In addition, all high school jail tours were suspended until further notice. Newly arriving inmates are being screened for COVID-19 and segregated from the general population in a separate reception housing area for 14 days.

And, he said, the jails are being disinfected three times per day, with a heavy cleaning taking place each evening.