OYA Communications set up a blog to provide updates on OYA’s response to Covid-19. Actions include: -review of plan for maintaining care of youth in the event of widespread staff illness; -cancellation of visitation at all OYA facilities; -symptomatic youths have been placed in medical isolation; -closure of all schools in OYA facilities.
Taking precautions to keep staff and clients safe and healthy and to reduce or minimize the risk of contracting or spreading the virus.The Juvenile Services building is currently only open for scheduled court hearings. Requesting that people do not come to a scheduled court hearing if they are ill or exhibiting cold systems – the hearing will be rescheduled or will allow telephonic appearance. Request to wash hand and practice social distancing.
Practice and procedures have been put into place in response to Covid-19 in order to assure safety of youth and staff and to prevent the introduction of Covid-19 into the facility and to prevent the spread of the virus into the community. NORCOR is taking direction from North Central Public Health, the Oregon Health Authority and the Governor’s Office. Practices and procedures include: -Closure of facility to all visitors with limited exceptions (attorneys); -Anyone entering the facility is screened prior to entry; -Providing more phone calls for youth and working to provide opportunities for video visitation if possible; -Increased cleaning and disinfecting in the facility; -Youth and staff are washing hands more frequently; -Closely monitoring anyone who reports not feeling well; -Consult with medical staff regularly.
Oregon’s criminal justice system is enacting sweeping changes temporarily to combat the spread of Covid-19. Those changes include individual sheriff’s offices attempting to curb the possibility of an outbreak of the virus in jails and restrictions on in-person court proceedings. How the measures are enacted can vary from county to county but efforts include: – holding conference calls with a variety of organizations as a way for sheriffs to discuss plans and share information; – carefully evaluating who gets booked into jail facilities in order to limit intake; -get low risk offenders out of jail as soon as possible; -environmental precautions; -social distancing; -screening of individuals being taken into custody, with any answer being indicative of a virus triggering a jail nurse for further assessment; -allowing deputies to issue citations to appear in court at a later date for lesser offenses; -suspending social visits; -checking the temperature of arrested persons prior to entry and potentially not admitting the person if they have an abnormally high fever and/or cough; -increase in cleaning of the jail
In an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Washington County Sheriff Pat Garrett on Monday took steps to reduce the jail population. The measures included:– identification of about 60 inmates it considered eligible for early release due to their medical condition or the nature of their sentences; – people serving short sentences or nearing the end of a sentence were considered for release; – expansion of the use of home detention bracelets; – requests to local police chiefs to ask officers to issue citations when possible instead of booking suspects into jail.These measures are being taken to prevent virus infections, to protect everybody in the jail facility and to maintain the long-term viability of our jail operations according to the sheriff.Work crews made up of people who are incarcerated will focus their efforts on the cleaning the jail instead of outside assignments.
The Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) announced the cancellation of all visitation (visitors and volunteers) to its juvenile detention centers and other facilities, effective March 14 to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. The ban will be in place for up to 30 days and will be re-evaluated regularly. The OYA considers the measures necessary for everyone’s health and safety.
