WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah, March 15, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has announced Purgatory Correctional Facility has suspended all on-site visitation in the light of the coronavirus pandemic.
A Facebook posts from the Sheriff’s Office said the suspension includes all legal, personal, and religious visits.
“All visitors are encouraged to use the messaging, telephone, and/or video visitation features available on our GTL communication system until the on-site visits are reinstated,” the post said.
Effective immediately, and until further notice, the following operational adjustments will also be implemented at the Purgatory Correctional Facility:
- The Disease Committee will meet weekly to review and discuss any available statistical data including, but not limited to, national exposure data, state exposure data, county exposure data, and symptomatic tracking data from within the facility.
- The PCF Medical Branch will be working to increase the facility’s surplus of over-the-counter cold and influenza medications.
- The PCF Support Services Branch will be working to increase the facility’s stock of personal protective equipment and environmental infection control supplies.
- PCF has suspended all contracted, off-site inmate work crew jobs.
Effective Monday, March 16, and until further notice, the following operational adjustments will also be implemented at the Purgatory Correctional Facility:
- PCF will not be accepting any inmates who report to serve partial commitments (i.e weekend commitments). Due to the frequency that inmates serving partial commitments come and go from the facility, they create an unreasonable and unnecessary risk of exposure for the facility, the post said. In addition, the housing area normally reserved for these inmates will be prepped for use as an isolation/quarantine area, should one be deemed necessary.
- PCF will be substantially limiting inmate recreational opportunities to allow for the appropriate cleaning of the recreational areas between each use.
- PCF will be asking all other local law enforcement agencies to use extreme discretion when deciding whether or not a transport to PCF is necessary. They will be asked to cite and release whenever doing so is a viable option. This will be done in an effort to avoid having to place any formal restrictions on admission to the facility, should the risk of COVID-19 virus in the facility continue to increase.
The post included a message from WCSO Sheriff Cory C. Pulsipher: “While at present there have been no cases of COVID-19 at Purgatory Correctional Facility, due to the measures called for by state and federal governments, I wanted to take this opportunity to inform you of the steps the Washington County Sheriff’s Office has already taken, and those we will be taking in the near future, to help manage the COVID-19 virus at PCF.”
Last week, PCF established a Disease Committee specifically to oversee and manage the execution of its four-phase pandemic response plan. The committee has already made adjustments to the intake screening process, which now includes specific COVID-19 related medical questions, distributed educational information regarding the COVID-19 virus and basic sanitation practices to both staff and inmates, implemented an inmate sanitation crew within the facility, and established an internal system for tracking illness and potential COVID-19 symptoms among staff and the inmate population.
The Utah Department of Corrections is also temporarily suspending all visiting and volunteering to correctional facilities for at least two weeks, it was announced Thursday.
Facilities affected include Utah State Prison in Draper and the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison.
