Nix visitors to jails, sez union boss

City jails are so far free of coronavirus — and visits should be suspended to make sure they stay that way, the chief of the correction officers union said.

“We’re calling for the City of New York to shut down inmate visits until they get a grip on this coronavirus and exactly what’s going on with it,” said Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Elias Husamudeen.

“By continuing the visits, we increase our chances of exposing it to the correction officers, the inmates and the civilian workers,” Husamudeen (below) said.

“We’re for the city to do everything it’s supposed to do to protect those of us who have to come to work, to not further expose us (to the coronavirus) when you don’t have to.”

No confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the jails as of Friday, a Correctional Health Services spokeswoman said.

Correction Department spokesman Peter Thorne said officials are working closely with the Board of Correction, the city’s Health Department and Office of Emergency Management on next steps.

“In compliance with direction from the New York State Commission of Correction, we began screening all visitors to our facilities for symptoms associated with coronavirus or the flu on Thursday,” he said.

Correction Department officials vowed to clean and sanitize all housing units, dayrooms, common spaces and transport buses once a day — part of a plan presented at a Board of Correction meeting Monday to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in the jails.

But the Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union and other organizations say the department must do more to ensure the safety of everyone behind bars.

“Strong plans…can prevent the need for drastic restrictions later on,” NYCLU staffer Grace Li wrote in a letter to the board.