Clay Co. Jail Reopens for Inmate Visitation

The Clay County Jail resumed inmate visitation Saturday.

Chief Deputy Rick Lisi said the jail has taken precautions to keep everyone safe.

“I went into the jail and explained to the inmate population that we would tentatively resume doing some visitation with some caveats,” Lisi said. “That was no children would be allowed, only two family members, and, of course, they would have to wear PPE, and the inmate would have to wear PPE.”

Visitation resumed on May 2, and Lisi said, so far, everything has gone according to plan.

“We had no issues or no concerns to speak of,” Lisi said. “Obviously, the inmate and the families were happy.”

Lisi said visitation was shutdown for almost a month. In that time jail officials struggled to find ways to keep inmates connected with their loved ones.

“The sheriff and I had looked into doing some video visitations and things like that,” Lisi said. “We didn’t have anything in place yet to take that situation and make it happen. We decided that if we couldn’t connect people through Skype or Zoom or something like that, we would open up visitation as soon as we could.”

Lisi said Clay County tries to go above usual standards for its inmates, and one of the ways they can relieve inmate pressure is through visitation.

“In regards to the visitation, we felt that if we could open that up a little sooner, it would only help serve to keep them calm and relaxed and easier to deal with,” Lisi said.

Lisi said more restrictions would be lifted as the state issues new guidelines.