As of yesterday, Monday, August 2, the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office would like to provide the following information as it relates to the current status of Covid 19 in the parish jail and the efforts being made to properly care for the inmates and employees working in the facility.
Sheriff Smith and his staff have made concerted efforts to maintain a clean and healthy environment within the confines of the jail. Those measures include, but are not limited to: providing free vaccinations to any inmate and employee wishing to have one, performing mass testing as recommended by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, placing dorms on quarantine to minimize movement, implementing step down dorms for preliminary quarantines before introduction to the general jail population, and cleaning and sanitizing the entire facility daily.
Sheriff Smith feels the measures taken thus far have kept the number of positive cases to a minimum, with a current number of 1,023 inmates in the facility. Presently, there are 37 positive cases, with one hospitalization. Currently, there are 28 dorms in the facility, of which 5 are quarantined. This is a precautionary measure put in place due to an inmate testing positive from those dorms.
For the continued safety of everyone, visitation has been suspended as well, and jail staff provides every dorm with cleaning and sanitation supplies twice daily.
