The COVID-19 situation is unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetime. The challenges are seemingly endless, ongoing and ever-changing, and there’s no clue as to when it may end. Jails in our nation had felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it was through a new arrestee, a visitor or a staff member, the coronavirus found its way into correctional facilities. A goal of Solon Detention facility was to mitigate, isolate and contain the coronavirus.
The Solon Detention Facility is classified under the minimum standards for jails in Ohio as established by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Section 5120 of the Ohio Revised Code, as a full-service 26 bed adult facility. The minimum standards provide a basis for the minimum conditions necessary to ensure the safe, efficient, effective, and legal operation of a jail.
During this pandemic, the jail facility followed the guidance from the Bureau of Adult Detention and the CDC in providing plans for operational preparedness, prevention and management of COVID-19. The jail quickly changed some of its overall operation to include changes in screenings, visitation, and food service. In addition the jail was able to work closely with the various courts to reduce the inmate population.
With quick action, a strong leadership, along with essential teamwork of correction officers that stayed focused and followed the guidelines on each shift. The Solon jail facility has been able to keep COVID-19 away. At the end “The problem with the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t actually the pandemic, but the response we all have to it,” If we will not modernize and broaden our thinking about response measures, the next phase of COVID-19 pandemic may well “become an extinction event.”