Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: The Graham County Adult Detention Facility recently had to deal with an outbreak of COVID-19 among staff and inmates.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – It was only a matter of time.
The inevitable occurred at the Graham County Adult Detention Facility recently, as the jail dealt with a COVID-19 outbreak among inmates and detention officers.
According to Graham County Sheriff P.J. Allred, a “small handful” of inmates tested positive for the virus in the past couple of weeks, along with a number of detention officers. However, none of those who tested positive have had to be hospitalized and were reportedly doing well.
“They’re doing fine,” Allred said. “The report that we’ve got from our nurses is that they’re doing well.”
After the positive tests, the inmates were quarantined – along with close contacts – to help limit the spread. As of Thursday, Dec. 10, Allred said he didn’t have any staff members out due to COVID-19 but did have three out due to Strep, which is something else administrators don’t want to spread throughout the jail population. The three employees with Strep do not have direct contact with inmates.
Allred said he was informed that Graham County is the 14th out of Arizona’s 15 counties to report a positive COVID-19 test for inmates.
The positive tests moved the jail to work with the court to limit new incarcerations for those individuals who may not necessarily need to be jailed at this time. However, Allred stressed that those who need to be taken into custody are still being booked into jail.
“We don’t turn anybody away at the gate,” Allred said. “If the officer brings somebody in to book, we’re booking them.”
When a person is booked into the jail, they have their temperature taken and are seen by the jail’s nursing staff and then are quarantined for 8 – 10 days, according to Allred. If at the end of the quarantine period the inmate passes the health screening, he or she is then placed into the general population. The new facility opened in 2017 and such measures would not have been possible at the old jail, which has since been demolished.
“There was no way to do anything whatsoever like that in the old jail,” Allred said. “This one here, we can work some things around. Everything is absolutely different, so we are able to do that.”
Allred also praised the inmates for helping keep the facility sanitized and clean.
“For the most part, our inmates have been very good about keeping their pods clean,” Allred said. “They are given the solution to wipe down to clean their own cells. They do a good job at picking up and wiping down the showers, bathrooms, and phones and common areas because they don’t want to get sick either.”
The Sheriff’s Office has also had to deal with some deputies who have had positive COVID-19 tests as well. But as of right now, Allred said he didn’t believe any of his staff was currently infected.
