The Union County Sheriff’s Office is in talks with a local pharmacy to get local jail inmates vaccinated against COVID-19, Sheriff Ricky Roberts said.
“I’m hoping to have that done either the end of this week or first of next week,” Roberts said Wednesday afternoon. “They’re going to have to come on-site (to administer the vaccines).”
Roberts said about 38 inmates said they want the vaccine in a straw poll undertaken among the jail population. On Wednesday, there were 156 people incarcerated at the Union County Detention Center.
“We’re looking at the Johnson & Johnson so it’ll be just the one shot and done,” Roberts said. “Whenever the pharmacy gives us a date, we’ll let them come on-site and go back through the jail and see who wants it and who doesn’t and we’ll vaccinate those who want it.”
Most of the jail employees have been vaccinated, Roberts said. First responders like police officers were among the first groups in Arkansas to be eligible for the vaccine; now, every Arkansan over the age of 16 is eligible to be vaccinated.
Roberts said that despite most jail employees’ vaccination status, health and safety measures implemented last March are still in place to prevent spread of the virus among inmates and staff.
New inmates are segregated from others in one-person cells for a period before joining the general jail population, and the only person-to-person contact inmates have is with other inmates and jail staff, as lawyers and loved ones must utilize video call kiosks to visit with those who are incarcerated.
Additionally, sanitization procedures were stepped up last year and fans were added to help circulate the air inside the jail more efficiently.
“Were still doing the quarantine and everything else we’ve been doing over the past year, but we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully will be getting back to normal here in the next month or so,” Roberts said. “It’ll sure make us feel a lot easier (once inmates have the opportunity to be vaccinated).”
The UCSO is currently in the process of adding additional beds in the jail, Roberts said. As of Wednesday, maximum capacity at the jail was 213, and the 15 new beds will increase that to 228.
Throughout the pandemic, the UCSO has asked other local law enforcement agencies to limit arrests as much as possible, particularly for non-violent misdemeanor suspects. However, Roberts said Wednesday that once the pandemic is over, the UCSO will be going after those who have failed to appear on citations first.
“I know there’s a lot of people that’s taken advantage of us — with our restrictions with the jail, only taking violent offenders and things like that — but once we open up, and we’re able to relax a little bit on the restrictions, they’re going to be the first we’re after,” he said. “There’s some out here with failure to appear warrants; they’re getting arrested and getting a court date and not showing up. They’re going to be the first we go after — these people that are taking advantage of the court system.”
“Other than that, we’re going to keep what we’re doing,” he added.