COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County Sheriff John Pollack is trying to reassure citizens about the safety of the county jail during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Precautions are being taken at the jail and Pollack said in a posting on the Sheriff’s Department Facebook page, “I want to assure everyone, we do not take our inmates or our staff’s welfare lightly.”
Pollack says to date there have no cases of COVID-19 at the county jail.
Aside from their normal health care services, they are doing all they can to limit outside contact and they are doing additional screening checks at least once a day.
Staff members are being screened prior to and during shifts to insure they have not been infected or exposed.
When they are not working, the staff has been told to stay home and not to travel.
The Home Depot store in Coldwater donated much needed masks and gloves to the Sheriff’s Department this week.
The call for people to stay home during the COVID-19 outbreak has apparently had an effect on the jail population. Since last Saturday, there have only been two bookings and both were on Sunday. As of Saturday morning, the jail population stood at 97 inmates consisting of 80 males and 17 females.
