News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County jail will reopen for visitors June 15.
Sheriff Eddie Farris said there won’t be a lot of changes in response to social distancing since there is a glass barrier between the inmate and visitor.
“It gives us time to go back and clean those stations and disinfect before new folks or new visitors come in the building to visit,” Farris said. “We’re just going to schedule some time in between, but we have opened more dates up to have visitation. To be honest, I think this will certainly help the public come and visit.”
Visits will be 30 minutes each and must be scheduled between 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Farris said the department is taking every precaution to ensure the virus does not enter the facility.
Farris said he expects inmate numbers to increase as courts reopen. He said it’s a good thing the jail is extending visitation hours.
“We are open for business,” Farris said. “Obviously the jail never has closed. We did limit some traffic on people that we would take in here for different crimes due to the COVID. We’ve opened that up to all facilities now that law enforcement may be called on to deal with. Obviously they can bring them in and we’ll accept them inside our facility.”
Inmate numbers have been down the past few weeks because court hasn’t taken place. Farris said the fewer inmates there are, the easier social distancing can take place.
