CORECIVIC TAKING BEST POSSIBLE CARE
Preventing the spread of communicable diseases is a challenge we think about a lot in secure facilities, particularly when we’re caring for vulnerable populations who may not have had access to regular medical care or vaccines before arriving. It’s certainly always been a big focus for us at as the operators of the Otay Mesa Detention Center. That’s why we started planning for the potential arrival of the novel coronavirus pandemic back in January.
What is now a pandemic presents some extraordinary challenges that no secure facility has faced before. We’ve worked hard to respond to this unprecedented situation appropriately, thoroughly and with care for the safety and well-being of those entrusted to us and our community.
Before I describe some of the measures we’re taking, I think it’s helpful to understand a little more about what we do. At Otay Mesa, we take care of people on behalf of our government partners, which are Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Marshals Service. Our employees don’t enforce immigration laws or decide why or for how long someone comes to be in our care. Our only job is to do the absolute best that we can for people while they’re with us.
The government’s ICE Health
Services Corps provides all the medical care at Otay Mesa, which means it handles tasks like identifying at-risk detainees, testing detainees for the coronavirus and deciding how to cohort individuals who test positive.
Our role is to make the facility as safe as possible.
Even before we had any confirmed cases of the coronavirus, we had rigorously followed the guidance of local, state and federal health authorities, as well as our partners. Every employee is screened upon entering the facility, and staff working in the front lobby wear a face mask, eye protection, gowns or coveralls and disposable gloves.
Disposable gloves are also readily available for conducting searches or handling property. Staff follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for cleaning and disinfecting, and we use commercial cleaners and Epa-registered disinfectants that are effective against the virus that causes COVID-19.
Social distancing is a major emphasis at Otay Mesa, and our team models that behavior for everyone in our care. We also actively promote respiratory etiquette (coughing or sneezing into a sleeve or tissue), avoiding touching one’s face and, of course, good hand hygiene.
We provide liquid soap at our sinks, and we’ve got plenty available for refills. We also offer bar soap twice a week and upon request to all detainees. From March 4 to April 23, we handed out 23,300 bars of soap, which is over 460 bars of soap every day for 50 days.
When we began to have positive cases at Otay Mesa, we expanded our response to the pandemic in a number of ways. Movement around the facility has been limited, with the exception of court hearings or medical emergencies, to reduce the contact the people have with each other. Housing pods with positive cases are under quarantine at the direction of ICE health officials. We’re also serving meals in the housing pods rather than the dining facility.
Everyone at Otay Mesa has received a mask, and I want to provide some additional context on this issue because there’s been a lot of misinformation about it. No signed waivers are required for people to get a mask. The CDC has made it clear that using a mask complements but does not replace other critical steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, so we want to make sure that people understand it’s important to continue measures like social distancing and proper hygiene. We’ve provided an educational handout in English and Spanish to convey that information.
Additionally, there was no use of force when the masks were distributed on April 10, and no pepper spray or chemical agents of any kind were used. Three detainees were temporarily removed from one of the pods for being disruptive when the masks were being handed out, but again, no force was used. I also want to be clear that no pepper spray has been used when we’ve needed to move detainees to new pods within the facility.
At Otay Mesa, we take the best possible care of people that we can so they’re better off when they leave us, no matter what their next step may be. That includes keeping people healthy, which is more important now than ever. It’s a mission that drives our team of 424 professionals, people from all over the San Diego area who risk their own health on a daily basis to help ensure the well-being of others.
has been the senior warden at the Otay Mesa Detention Center since July 2019. He previously served as warden at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, Ohio, and of two other facilities for the Ohio Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.