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Post by Adamhennepin on Jun 22, 2020 18:56:29 GMT
In Hennepin, I have been able to start inhouse Mental Health programs. No outside volunteers yet. I have limited the current programming to six inmates because of the six foot social distancing rule. Have any of you thought about this and are you going to follow it? In doing this, it only allows 1/3 capacity from what we normally have done per class. What is the solution? Do we limit it to six inmates but cut the class in half to 30 minutes. Instead of one, one hour class, volunteers then do two 30 minute classes??? Just throwing out options. What have you come up with?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Adam
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Post by St. Louis Tamara on Jun 23, 2020 16:29:08 GMT
At St. Louis County we are not allowing any outside visitors in the jail yet.
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Post by ottertailbrent on Jun 23, 2020 16:38:38 GMT
We are not allowing outside visitors. We will allow approved volunteers and clergy to visit through the glass in our visitation area. This makes our NA, AA, Life Skills, etc programs all individual and very time consuming. Until a vaccine is available, I do not see us opening up to any group programming. Especially since the BOP is being sued now for not taking necessary steps to stop the coronavirus from turning "prison sentences into death sentences."
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Post by Kalie on Jun 23, 2020 16:40:33 GMT
Here at Tri-County Corrections we are not allowing outside volunteers into our building yet either. However, we have started allowing them to go to church through Zoom Meetings. We have a room that a TV is in and we connect it to the Zoom, then the volunteers log in and we connect them. We only allow a certain amount of individuals in there so that the 6 foot radius is met and they get to attend that way.
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Post by St. Louis Tamara on Jun 23, 2020 16:42:38 GMT
What are other jails doing for COVID - gym, library, volunteers, groups, in the units, booking precautions housing precautions. At St. Louis County we are doing a temp and COVID interview on arrival to the jail, we quarantine for 14 days on a separate unit, then we start everyone one out from quarantine to the same GP unit, after several days with no COVID issues we move to another GP unit. We aren't allowing any visitors in the jail, everything is being done by WebEx, phone or Zoom. All hearings are taking place in our Programs department by Zoom, we are just now starting a slow open at the court house. Gym activities are one unit at a time once a day for 45 minutes. The activities are limited to leisure or passive activities at this time. Library we are taking a bin of books once a week to each unit and then quarantining the books for 14 days afterwards. The units now lockdown everyday at 7:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. for more cleaning. We have been taking guidance from DOC, so far it is working very well. We all so have staff on a rotation with days off on Stand By every other week to make sure we aren't exposing our staff.
What are others doing and how long do you plan on following COVID precautions?
Hair cuts are possibly starting up again, we will allow two inmates at a time, they will be several feet apart and we will clean everything before the next two come in. I will do a sign up sheet with the inmates who have been here the longest to go first.
We are doing some YouTube church groups on the unit
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Post by freebornheather on Jun 23, 2020 16:46:23 GMT
In Freeborn we are not allowing outside volunteers for the for seeable future. We are doing programming through Zoom; AA/NA, some volunteer led, and sharing with neighboring counties.
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Post by kanabeccojstevens on Jun 23, 2020 16:53:11 GMT
Kanabec is not allowing volunteers in yet. We are slowly starting visiting one person at a time. I have been trying to get television based programs going here but keep hitting a road block. I have one organization that would really like to do virtual programs. If anyone is doing those, how did you start them?
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Post by Adamhennepin on Jun 23, 2020 17:08:12 GMT
What are other jails doing for COVID - gym, library, volunteers, groups, in the units, booking precautions housing precautions. At St. Louis County we are doing a temp and COVID interview on arrival to the jail, we quarantine for 14 days on a separate unit, then we start everyone one out from quarantine to the same GP unit, after several days with no COVID issues we move to another GP unit. We aren't allowing any visitors in the jail, everything is being done by WebEx, phone or Zoom. All hearings are taking place in our Programs department by Zoom, we are just now starting a slow open at the court house. Gym activities are one unit at a time once a day for 45 minutes. The activities are limited to leisure or passive activities at this time. Library we are taking a bin of books once a week to each unit and then quarantining the books for 14 days afterwards. The units now lockdown everyday at 7:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. for more cleaning. We have been taking guidance from DOC, so far it is working very well. We all so have staff on a rotation with days off on Stand By every other week to make sure we aren't exposing our staff. What are others doing and how long do you plan on following COVID precautions? Thanks for the update Tamara! I got my Programs staff back from the operations line. They are doing Mental Health Programming and gym groups. Moods have definitely improved as inmates have been given a chance to get out of their cell. Our entire jail is on 23/1 lockdown. Inmates are pretty tired of it. We don't have any technology for Zoom meetings so that option is out. All new inmates are housed together for 14 days as well. Today I had our inhouse Chaplain conduct the first bible study. Limited the class to six and only doing housing units that are not on precautions. I have transitioned into the Logistics manager for the entire Sheriff's Office as it pertains to sanitary PPE items. I receive, inventory and fill orders for the SO for items like wipes, hand sanitizer, disinfectant spray, surgical masks, N95's and other things like reusable lab coats or disposable Tyvek suits when working with Positive inmates. Staff is medically screened, with temp prior to being allowed into the locker room. Surgical masks are required everywhere unless in an area where an N95 is required. Inmate have temp taken daily and have to wear a surgical mask when out of their cell. Inmates and staff alike ask me daily when the mask thing will be done. I can only smile and say, "it will be a while"!! This is going to be a long summer!!
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Post by St. Louis Tamara on Jun 23, 2020 17:13:46 GMT
With You tube you have the volunteers upload their session and then you start a feed with them in it.
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Post by Adamhennepin on Jun 23, 2020 17:22:34 GMT
With You tube you have the volunteers upload their session and then you start a feed with them in it. Is it live and interactive? Or is it just viewing a prerecorded class?
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Post by Chisago county on Jun 23, 2020 17:29:54 GMT
Chisago County is not allowing outside visitors at this time. How ever we are working on coming up with a plan to get a few programs back.
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Post by lyoncounty on Jun 23, 2020 18:29:06 GMT
We haven't allowed outside volunteers back into our facility at this time. Mental Health visits are conducted once a week via video chat.
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anna
New Member
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Post by anna on Jun 23, 2020 18:31:59 GMT
Scott County is not allowing outside facilitators into that facility to conduct programming. We have worked with a lot of our volunteers and they email contain and readings for the inmates. The inmate can request this programming information and work on it, like an independent study. We offer meditation and workout videos in the units, also by unit facilitated Rec. We have interest in the Virtual Meetings but have also run into some IT road blocks. All our inmate are required to wear masks, we quarantine for 14 days. All our staff are required to wear masks, we did recently shift from 12 hour team shifts back to our normal rotation and our courts are slowly opening back up.
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Post by crowwingcomiranda on Jun 23, 2020 18:56:17 GMT
Crow Wing County is not allowing any outside visitors in yet. We have had some volunteers e-mailing in weekly assignments that we get to the housing units for those wanting to do so. We are hoping to get some in-house programs going in the near future (gym, computers, library) but nothing as of yet. We do have a couple volunteers able to do weekly zoom meetings 1 on 1 for those interested.
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Post by ricebruce on Jun 23, 2020 22:40:50 GMT
Rice county will commence programming with outside volunteers effective 6 July. New rules are:
1. Volunteer(s) must enter our jail facility through the main (upper) lobby area to be screened (COVID questionnaire and temperature) and escorted to the programming room.
2. Volunteer(s) must wear a respirator or mask. They will be asked to bring their personal masks, but if they do not have one, jail staff will issue a temporary/disposable mask.
3. Hand sanitizer will be available and encouraged for use upon entry and exit.
4. The programming room will be cleaned and sanitized prior to use. Inmates are permitted to clean and disinfect as necessary.
5. Masks will be worn by inmates throughout the program.
6. No more than 5 inmates may be in the Programming/Recreation room at one time with the volunteer(s). If more than 5 inmates are registered for class, the class will be split in two and condensed in length. Same rules apply to inmates in no-contact or separation mandates.
7. No classes will exceed one hour in duration.
8. Social distancing will be maintained (6’ separation) and shaking hands, hugging or any other physical contact IS NOT permitted.
9. No items (books, pencils, paper, etc…) will be exchanged during programming.
10. Once programming is complete, the volunteer will be escorted back to the screening room, return or discard issued equipment and provided hand sanitizer.
11. The programming room will be cleaned and sanitized after each use.
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Post by Adamhennepin on Jun 24, 2020 11:45:49 GMT
Rice county will commence programming with outside volunteers effective 6 July. New rules are: 1. Volunteer(s) must enter our jail facility through the main (upper) lobby area to be screened (COVID questionnaire and temperature) and escorted to the programming room. 2. Volunteer(s) must wear a respirator or mask. They will be asked to bring their personal masks, but if they do not have one, jail staff will issue a temporary/disposable mask. 3. Hand sanitizer will be available and encouraged for use upon entry and exit. 4. The programming room will be cleaned and sanitized prior to use. Inmates are permitted to clean and disinfect as necessary. 5. Masks will be worn by inmates throughout the program. 6. No more than 5 inmates may be in the Programming/Recreation room at one time with the volunteer(s). If more than 5 inmates are registered for class, the class will be split in two and condensed in length. Same rules apply to inmates in no-contact or separation mandates. 7. No classes will exceed one hour in duration. 8. Social distancing will be maintained (6’ separation) and shaking hands, hugging or any other physical contact IS NOT permitted. 9. No items (books, pencils, paper, etc…) will be exchanged during programming. 10. Once programming is complete, the volunteer will be escorted back to the screening room, return or discard issued equipment and provided hand sanitizer. 11. The programming room will be cleaned and sanitized after each use. Thanks for the update Bruce. I think this sounds like a solid plan to start off. The one question I wanted to ask you was how do the inmates 'sign up' for classes? I understand some have the capability to do this on kiosks, is this how you do it? Thanks, Adam
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Post by olmstedackman on Jun 24, 2020 17:22:31 GMT
Olmsted County is also looking to allow volunteers to slowly start coming back starting 7/6. We are basically doing the same as Rice County already posted. About the only thing I would add is that we were selective in which programs/volunteers we are starting with. Three weeks ago I reached out to a select group of our volunteers. We chose the classes that were more enriching (anger management, AA/NA, GED, etc) as well as some that were the more popular/well attended. I contacted those volunteers and asked their comfort level as well as any suggestions they had to make them feel more comfortable coming back in. I then contacted those volunteers and told them they are welcome to come back in if/when they are comfortable and I plan on sending that email out to more and more volunteers as the weeks roll on as long as we have no issues.
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Post by ricebruce on Sept 11, 2020 16:07:47 GMT
Because we are so small, we offer standard classes through the Turnkey kiosk (NA, AA, Bible Study, ILL, Teen Challenge, GED/ABE, etc...), but I will also take requests through our TEAM emails. Sometimes, inmates want to work out on the stationary bike or request workout vids and if I have nothing going on, I'll oblige. When our numbers increase, it will be a more formal sign up procedure. And I'm only part-time anyway, so don't have a cut & dry approach to programming yet. When our new jail is built (5 year plan) we will adopt an approach similar to those jails with 50+ population.
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Post by brandonscottcounty on May 3, 2021 16:00:01 GMT
I see some Jails have implemented a video programming option having their volunteers complete a youtube video. Is this something we could share with everyone or has a youtube channel been found that can provide what we are looking for?
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