Nassau County Sheriff James Dzurenda has released the following statement to those who have families and friends incarcerated at the Nassau County Correctional Center during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak:
I want to assure you that we are doing everything possible to keep all staff and inmates safe during this COVID-19 pandemic. Every new admission into the facility is being tested for the COVID-19 virus during initial processing. All new admissions, if medically cleared during intake screening, are sent to our New Admission Housing Unit and held there for at least 14 days. During that time every new admission is evaluated by medical staff and is monitored closely for any signs or symptoms of the COVID-19 virus. New admissions will not be transferred out of this specialized housing unit unless and until medically cleared and free of all signs/symptoms of illness.
Any inmate with signs or symptoms of illness will be immediately moved into a separate quarantine unit and monitored closely by medical staff. Among other medical monitoring, temperatures will be taken every day for all inmates housed in the quarantine unit. Mental Health staff is visiting with each inmate in the quarantine unit on a daily basis to ensure they understand why they are there and what the next steps in the process are expected to be. Medical staff will determine whether or not an inmate showing any signs/symptoms of illness needs to be re-tested. All inmates with positive test results will be screened by medical staff to determine if outside hospitalization is necessary.
Inmates in regular housing units will continue to receive outdoor recreation each day for fresh air, but limited to groups of 5 to 10 at a time to practice social distancing. Inmates are also being afforded free minutes of phone time each week in order to maintain communication with their family, friends, and other support networks.
Two facility work crews have been trained on proper COVID-19 cleaning and have been detailed full time each day and into the evening all week specifically targeting the cleaning of all areas of the facility. There are no visiting or program activities with outside persons occurring until further notice in order to reduce the possibility of virus introduction into the facility.
We will continue to do everything possible to protect the well-being of all staff and inmate
population.
