Jailer gives Nelson Fiscal Court more details of COVID-19 outbreak at jail

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020 — Nelson County Jailer Buck Snellen provided additional details and answered magistrates’ questions about the COVID-19 outbreak at the county jail during Tuesday’s Nelson Fiscal Court meeting.

From testing conducted at the jail on Saturday, 10 deputy jailers tested positive and 35 inmates tested positive. Some of the deputy jailers who tested positive were part-time employees. One of the jail employees is current in the hospital for treatment of the virus. The other employees who tested positive are off work and quarantined at home.

Judge Executive Dean Watts noted that he and Snellen would take part in a conference call with state corrections officials later Tuesday morning and “develop a game plan” for the next steps to take at the jail.

In response to questions by the magistrates, Snellen said COVID-19 was found pretty much in every cell at the jail. Due to the way the jail is laid out, there’s no practical way for the jail to isolate inmates who test positive from the rest of the jail population, he explained.

Snellen said that new inmates would be housed at the LaRue County Jail and not admitted to the Nelson County Jail.

Joe Prewitt, emergency services director, said that he, his wife Eva Prewitt, and five EMS volunteers conducted the testing on Saturday at the jail. The jail population and employees will undergo another round of testing next Tuesday, he said.

Prewitt said his office is working to make sure the jail is equipped with additional supplies of hand sanitizer and personal protective equipment.

When asked how he’s coping with so many employees off work and quarantined, Snellen told the court “we’re doing what we have to do.” He said he went home at 9 p.m. Monday night and came back at 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The COVID outbreak began after one inmate who was admitted to the jail later tested positive, he said.

As of  Tuesday morning, the jail housed 119 inmates, Snellen told the court in his report.

JAIL MEDICAL COSTS. Several magistrates expressed displeasure over the ongoing costs the county is paying for medical services at the Nelson County Jail.

The magistrates questioned a bill for more than $9,000 from the jail’s contracted healthcare provider. The contractor visits the jail three times a week for inmates’ medical needs.

Magistrates Keith Metcalfe and Gary Coulter said that the jail’s monthly medical costs seem to run higher this year than last year. Watts said he would provide figures on the medical costs comparing this year and last year.

“You have two choices, providing it or not providing medical care,” Watts explained. Not providing medical care would cost the county much more than the costs of providing it, he said, adding that you can’t refuse to provide inmates medical attention when they request it.

“We’re probably doing a better job of giving them medical attention now,” Watts said.

Chief Deputy Jailer Jessica Raikes told the court she also believes that the medical costs are more expensive than they have been in the past. “We need to go back and look at the bills,” she said.

2020 TAX RATE. The magistrates agreed on a tentative plan to lower the county’s property tax rate to provide a 4 percent tax revenue increase over last year.

An increase in assessments this year will require the county to lower its tax rate to avoid creating more than a 4 percent tax revenue hike.

Watts said the county’s current tax rate — 14.2 cents per $100 value — is expected to drop to 13.9 cents per $100 value.

State law requires the county to conduct a public hearing after advertising the hearing for two consecutive weeks.

The court approved advertising the public hearing for Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020.

Watts noted that the tax certifications from the PVA office were five weeks late this year.

In other business, the court:

 — adopted a change to its policy regarding sick leave. Employees who retire and have six months or more of accrued sick leave will have to apply six months worth toward their retirement. Any additional sick time accrued will be paid out in cash to the employees on retirement.

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