By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The inmate population at Wood County jail is being thinned in an effort to slow the potential impact of COVID-19 at the facility.
As of this morning, the population is in the 120s, compared to more than 165 last week.
“Our numbers are the lowest since I’ve been sheriff,” said Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn earlier in the week.
“The lower our population is, the easier it is to manage,” he said during a conference call Tuesday with other elected officials.
Earlier this month, the jail stopped accepting inmates from Cuyahoga County, which was the first region in the state to see residents test positive for COVID-19.
And local courts and law enforcement are raising the bar for sending defendants to jail prior to their trials.
“Unless someone is a serious misdemeanor or higher,” they are more likely to avoid imprisonment before trial, Wasylyshyn said. “It’s kind of on a case-by-case basis.”.
“I appreciate what the judges and law enforcement are doing,” he said. “They are only bringing us people who need to go into the jail.”
The Wood County Jail has not yet started releasing inmates who the courts had already sent to jail before trial, but who pose a lesser risk to the public.
“That would be up to the courts,” Wasylyshyn said. “All the judges have been reviewing that.”
According to the Associated Press, officials in Ohio’s largest counties, fearing coronavirus spreading in their jails, have been taking steps to reduce inmate populations by releasing nonviolent offenders, ordering police to issue citations instead of making arrests, and striking plea deals to resolve cases quickly.
In Cuyahoga County Corrections Center in Cleveland the jail population dropped from nearly 2,000 inmates last week to under 1,300 on Friday. Inmates there who are medically at risk for contracting the coronavirus also have been released.
In Hamilton County an order was issued last week to release as many inmates as possible. By releasing misdemeanor inmates and nonviolent offenders who had previously not been able to make bond, the jail population had fallen to just over 1,000 inmates from around 1,600 inmates the Monday before.
Gov. Mike DeWine has banned in-person visits with inmates to stop the spread of COVID-19.
At Wood County Jail, efforts are being made where possible to allow inmates the suggested 6 feet of space between others, Wasylyshyn said.
“Obviously, the lower my jail population is, the easier that is,” he said.
The jail staff is spending more time sanitizing the jail – which inmates have noted, according to the sheriff.
“They see us sanitizing all the time,” he said. “They have commented about how diligent we are wiping things down.”
The Wood County Jail charges inmates for their toiletry items, such as soap. But Wasylyshyn said that soap is provided at no cost to indigent inmates.
“Everyone in the jail has soap,” he said.
The Wood County Sheriff’s Office, connected to the county jail on East Gypsy Lane Road in Bowling Green, is continuing to provide its standard services.
“We are still fully functioning,” Wasylyshyn said.
That includes doing fingerprinting and checks for nursing homes needing staff and volunteers, and licensing citizens for concealed carry weapons permits.
“We’re required to continue doing those,” Wasylyshyn said of the CCW permits. But the process has changed a bit, with the transaction now occurring through glass, with no physical contact.
Because of the potential threat to county dispatchers, the sheriff’s office has a “virtual lockdown” of the dispatch center, he said.
“It’s vital that we have 911 dispatchers,” the sheriff said.
Sheriff’s employees are asked to take their temperatures before leaving home. They are then checked again when they arrive at work.
Courthouse security staff members check the temperatures of visitors at that facility. Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or higher is not allowed entrance to the courthouse or county offices.
“I appreciate the patience of the public,” Wasylyshyn said.
“I want to thank my deputies for their patience and willingness to change their practices,” he added.
