Positive tests below 2% for jail inmates

Less than 2% of all arrestees who have entered the Pulaski County jail since March tested positive for covid-19, according to numbers released by the sheriff’s office.

Only 31 inmates, or 1.63% of those tested, received a positive result between March and December.

In fact, they fared far better than sheriff ’s office employees when it came to covid-19 testing.

Out of 502 employees, 66 tested positive for covid-19 between March and December, or 13.15%.

Data released to the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette, separated by month and role of employees, showed what types of roles had positive tests and when those workers tested positive.

On the enforcement side, the Criminal Investigations Division had the most positive tests with nine, and patrol had the second-most with eight. Spokesman Lt. Robert Garrett said most direct contact with patrol deputies happened during arrests.

“The majority of the time, their contact is out in open space with the exception of contact in a car,” Garrett said.

The Criminal Investigations Division, before protocols for the pandemic were put into place, used to do interviews in small rooms where they could be recorded, according to Garrett.

“Early on, they were still using the interview room,” Garrett said. “You’re actually seated approximately maybe 3 feet, if that, across from the person. When we put our protocols into place, they started doing interviews outside and using a small recorder.”

Since protocols went into effect, Garrett said, most of the positive tests can be traced back to crime scenes.

“We can just about trace the infections with CID from crime scenes,” Garrett said. “[ We] don’t know exactly who the instance was, but they were immediately following large callouts to crime scenes, large investigation response.”

On the inside of the jail, Housing and Security had the most positive tests out of jail employees, with 22. This is despite only half of the 12,000 arrestees who entered the jail making it to Housing and Security.

“Only about 6,000 were actually sent to Housing and Security,” Garrett said.

However, because of the movement of inmates in the jail for court hearings and other things, Garrett said, the Housing and Security workers were going to have some covid-19 cases.

“While we had protocols in place, which is what made our numbers lower, it’s virtually impossible to ensure you’re not going to get any cases,” Garrett said. “Because there is some movement through the facility with inmates having to go to court. You also have to take into account that the personnel that work those units are leaving the facility on a daily basis.”

Department of Corrections inmates have not fared as well as Pulaski County jail inmates. In July, the Department of Corrections dipped below capacity for the first time since 2007, and as of Friday, the number of inmates was 13,767.

However, according to Department of Corrections information as of December, there had been a total of 10,579 covid-19 cases of inmates in the prisons since the pandemic began.

The number of Pulaski County inmates swelled, according to Garrett, because the Department of Corrections made the decision to stop taking in more prisoners because of the outbreak.

“With covid hitting and the Department of Corrections having such an outbreak, they shut down accepting inmates for a while, so our numbers weren’t moving either,” Garrett said.