News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Overton County jail stands COVID free after a recent spike in cases.
Sheriff John Garrett said the department continues to take measures to limit exposure.
“It’s been a challenge. It’s been very difficult,” Garrett said. “We have had to take multiple precautions. We’ve really had to look at the folks we were bringing into the facility. We’ve had to suspend a lot of in-person visits.”
Garrett said in general, the jail transitioned from in-person to video visitations before COVID in 2015. Garrett said limitations put in place mainly pertain to social workers and lawyers, who are not allowed to visit in-person at this time.
“Even on visitation days, the public is not coming into our jail,” Garrett said. “There’s a room with monitors over in our small courtroom. We don’t have the public coming in and out of our jail.”
Similarly to the Putnam County Jail, Garrett said the sheriff’s office suspects the virus entered the facility through inmate transportation.
“We narrowed it down to a couple of inmates going to this facility from an other facility, which I don’t want to name,” Garrett said. “As those couple of inmates went out to court in this other facility and came back, we believe it was contracted at that other facility.”
Garrett said deputies are also trying to limit the spread of COVID. Garrett said they are using more written citations for low level misdemeanors to avoid taking a person straight to jail.
“Keeping the inmates safe, keeping the virus contained and also keeping our employees at work, those are some of the biggest challenges,” Garrett said.
