Men’s Colony and ASH suspend visitation as local detention facilities brace for COVID-19
Update 2:15 p.m. Friday: The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has added the San Luis Obispo County Jail to the growing number of state and local detention facilities to cancel discretionary inmate visits as a proactive measure to prevent a coronavirus outbreak.
The Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Friday afternoon that, “effective immediately, in-person inmate visitation will be temporarily suspended until further notice.”
Video visitation is still available for inmates and their families, and the Sheriff’s Office says it has negotiated with its video visitation service provider for reduced rates during this time.
More information about video visitation can be found at homewav.com or by calling the video visitation phone number at 314-764-2872.
The Sheriff’s Office says official in-person visits between inmates and attorneys or members of law enforcement will still be conducted in glass-partitioned rooms.
Inmate educational programs have also been suspended until further notice, the news release says.
More information about local COVID-19 issues is available at ReadySLO.org.
Original story: California prisons — including California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo — have canceled most inmate visitations “until further notice” as state and local detention facilities try to proactively prevent a spread of coronavirus.
On Thursday afternoon, the Department of State Hospitals followed suit and suspended normal visitations to patients in its five psychiatric facilities across the state.
The agencies cite California Department of Public Health guidance for mass gatherings in taking the dramatic step.
“CDCR values visitation as an essential part of rehabilitation, but at this time the department must make difficult decisions in order to protect the health and wellness of all who live in, work in, and visit state prisons,” Dana Simas, spokeswoman for the agency, wrote in a statement Wednesday.
There have been no known cases of individuals who have contracted the virus in correctional institutions in California, but one expert told The Sacramento Bee that a positive case of COVID-19 in such an environment is “inevitable,” and once it catches, “it’s going to spread like wildfire.”
Josie Gastelo, California Men’s Colony warden, told The Tribune that the cancellation of visitations — held at CMC on weekends — is a move that the prison of roughly 3,800 inmates and 1,800 employees hasn’t had to make in recent memory.
“It’s pretty serious,” Gastelo said Thursday.
The San Luis Obispo County Jail has not yet implemented such restrictive policies, though a spokesman told The Tribune Thursday the Sheriff’s Office was considering whether to limit or cancel visitation in the near future.
Some agencies across the state have been silent on their policies to prevent an outbreak in detention facilities and what their protocol is in case one hits, while others, like the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, have temporarily halted visitation hours, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), which inspects and regulates state and local detention facilities such as the County Jail and juvenile hall, said the agency is relaxing minimum safety standards normally in place to protect inmates’ well-being and civil rights.
The BSCC published a memo online notifying agencies in charge of local detention facilities that in the event of an outbreak of novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, they may suspend Title XV minimum safety standards — such as the amount of time an inmate is required to be let of a cell, for example — for up to three days for each individual case.
After three days of suspending those standards, however, the local agency must notify the BSCC in writing that the suspension has lasted beyond three days; after 15 days, the BSCC board chair must personally approve the continued relaxing of regulations for a specific amount of time.
As of Thursday, more than 121,000 cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 4,300 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has more than 1,000 confirmed cases, with 32 deaths.
California had 198 confirmed coronavirus cases, though thousands more may have been exposed, the Los Angeles Times reports. Four people have died in the state.
There have been no confirmed cases in San Luis Obispo County.
California Men’s Colony
CDCR press secretary Simas said there have so far been no reported cases of novel coronavirus in CDCR institutions.
Simas released an update from the agency Thursday, saying that normal inmate visiting will be canceled statewide until further notice, though overnight family visits as well as legal and attorney visits will continue as scheduled.
Visitors are asked to monitor CDCR’s website for more information and updates.
Warden Gastelo said CMC staff is providing regular updates about COVID-19 response to the prison’s Inmate Family Council, which serves as a liaison between the family and friends of the incarcerated population and the administration.
“I believe they’re not too upset about it, because they know it’s necessary,” Gastelo said Thursday.
Marriages involved inmates will also be postponed, and those effected are encouraged to work with the institution’s Community Resource Manager to reschedule at a later date.
Though discretionary visits — including those by filmmakers, public tours and special events — are limited, people needing to enter facilities to provide normal rehabilitative programming will continue to be allowed to do so.
“However, those visiting state prisons every day as program providers, contractors and volunteers are urged to not enter a CDCR institution, or take part in a program or event, if they have symptoms (of coronavirus),” the agency’s update statement reads.
Religious services are not being restricted.
Inmates coming into the prison system, those being transported to County Jail to attend court hearings, and inmates transferring prison to prison are also completing comprehensive health screenings when they are both processed into and out of an institution, the agency said in its Thursday update.
Institutions will also be providing extra cleaning supplies to inmates in order to maintain good personal hygiene and have created staggered feeding schedules, where possible, to limit the size of gatherings at one time.
A CDCR workgroup is coordinating with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to ensure adequate supplies of cleaning materials and protective equipment for staff and inmates, the agency said.
To keep inmates informed, prison staff has distributed fact sheets and educational posters on COVID-19 and precautions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, which expand beyond those advised during cold and flu season. Prisons have also begun streaming CDC educational videos on the inmate television network and the inmate health care television network, according to the news release.
Atascadero State Hospital
Atascadero State Hospital is one of five psychiatric hospitals in California and is currently overseen by acting executive director Jason Black.
One of the county’s largest employers, ASH is a forensic psychiatric facility that houses and treats more than 1,100 male mentally disordered offenders who have been found not guilty by insanity or those charged with crimes but who have been deemed mentally incompetent to participate in their defense.
It currently has a staff of approximately 2,050, according to a spokesman.
Department of State Hospitals spokesman Ralph Montano on Wednesday said the agency is “actively working to plan and prepare for COVID-19 across its system,” which Montano said is an ongoing process that will be continuously updated through guidance from the California Department of Public Health, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local partners.
“COVID-19 in California is a rapidly evolving situation,” Montano wrote in an email. “As such, guidance to healthcare entities from the above mentioned partners has been evolving as well.”
On Thursday, the Department of State Hospitals announced it was also canceling normal visitation at ASH, Coalinga State Hospital, Metropolitan State Hospital, Napa State Hospital, and Patton State Hospital.
Visits for court-ordered evaluations, legal matters, end-of-life care, and other special situations with the approval of the hospital’s medical director will still be allowed, according to a message on the DSH website.
All approved visitors will be subject to a health screening.
Montano said the facility will take steps to isolate and treat patients with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, as well as efforts to educate patients, visitors, and staff on precautionary measures they can take to help protect against the virus.
Visitors who are permitted entrance are encouraged not to come to ASH if they are showing any symptoms.
“Any illness that is spread from person to person can develop very quickly in a hospital environment,” Montano wrote.
Though DSH is asking all employees to follow the same advice, it has not impacted current staffing levels, which Montano said “meets all state and federal guidelines.”
SLO County Jail
The San Luis Obispo County Jail, which over 2019 had a daily population of 530 male and female inmates, is operated by the Sheriff’s Office, with medical, dental, and mental health services provided through the county’s contractor, Wellpath, and overseen by the county’s chief medical officer.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla said that in response to COVID-19, its own custodial leadership, Wellpath administrators, and the county’s Public Health Department “have been working closely together and have developed a plan to address the possibility of COVID-19 in the jail.”
Though the jail has not yet limited inmate visitation, Cipolla said Thursday the Sheriff’s Office was coordinating with outside agencies on whether to limit or cancel visitation as other counties have.
Regardless, Cipolla wrote in an email that all arrestees being booked into the jail are screened for fever and respiratory symptoms before entering.
Should the person show symptoms, they are immediately given a mask and taken to the medical unit, where they are isolated.
The Public Health Department would be notified in those cases, and recommendations from that agency “will be followed by the jail health staff for testing,” Cipolla wrote.
Medical, mental health, and dental treatment is expected to continue uninterrupted.
Cipolla said that Sheriff’s Office and Wellpath employees who work at the jail are following existing employee policy regarding sick time use when they are ill — ie., staying home if sick — as a means to prevent the introduction of any illness to the jail population.
The Sheriff’s Office is also regularly reminding all staff and visitors to follow normal preventive actions while at work and home including regular hand washing and avoiding the touching of eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 5:14 PM.
