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| Flu prompts ban on visits @ JAIL |
| By SUN Journal |
| Published: 05/03/2009 |
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Flu prompts ban on visits at Oxford, Androscoggin county jails By Leslie H. Dixon , Staff Writer NORWAY - Sheriffs in Androscoggin and Oxford counties have banned or restricted inmate visits in an attempt to prevent the spread of swine flu into jails. In Franklin County, a ban was being considered Friday night. Inmates at the Oxford County jail have been told that all visits are banned. Visits at the Androscoggin County Jail are banned for this weekend; beginning Monday, they will be reduced to non-contact only on a limited basis. "We're only doing that for the safety of the staff and inmates," Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins said Friday. The ban will continue indefinitely until the sheriffs' offices receive some sort of assurance from the Maine Center for Disease Control or the federal government that the swine flu is under control, officials said. Oxford County Sheriff's Capt. Ernest Martin said the decision was made at a sheriffs' association meeting held at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro on Thursday. Sheriffs' officials from nine counties agreed to limit or restrict access to the jails by stopping visits, contact or non-contact, Desjardins said. The state's largest county jail, Cumberland County Jail in Portland, has not stopped visits but only allows contact visits between inmates and professional workers such as lawyers and clergy. The jail's medical officer was in daily contact with the Maine CDC and officials were awaiting any change to the recommendations on social gatherings before enacting any further restriction on inmate visits, said Capt. Steve Butts of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. As of Friday, there had been no confirmed cases of the new flu at any U.S. correctional facility, Butts said, citing the American Correctional Association as his source. In Androscoggin County, Desjardins said the jail's 140 inmates were told about the change Friday afternoon. "It seems to be going very, very well," he said. Desjardins said the department was devising a three-stage plan that would initially ban all contact visits and reduce the number of people able to visit on a non-contact basis. The move to limit the non-contact visits was necessitated in part by the smaller area available for such visits, but the jail will extend the days and hours of visits, Desjardins said. "(Visits are) very, very important to the inmate population," he said. Attorneys and service providers are also being limited to non-contact visits and the hours they can visit have been reduced. The sheriff has also met with the police chiefs in the county to advise them of screening measures that will be taken on new prisoners being taken to the jail. Plans are also in the process for what would happen if the flu hit the inmate population or the staff, many of which are in the National Guard and have already been put on alert status. At the Oxford County Jail, some providers will still have access to their clients, but anyone who comes in contact with the prison population will be questioned about flu symptoms first.Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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