Visits to inmates will be suspended starting Sunday at the Suffolk County jail in Yaphank to prevent the potential spread of Covid-19, the sheriff’s office announced Wednesday.
Attorneys can visit their clients via booth visits only if scheduled in advance by the attorney. They will have to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test prior to entry, be subject to an onsite temperature screening, and wear a mask or face covering at all times.
Non-county service providers will revert back to remote visitation with their inmate clients as of Wednesday.
All previous COVID-19 precautions remain in place. All new admission inmates or inmates returning from a hospital visit will quarantine for 14 days at the Yaphank Facility. Inmates are issued face masks and must wear them at all times while outside of their cells. Inmate workers sanitize public spaces three times daily, and cleaning supplies are available to inmates to sanitize their cells. Staff members have temperatures taken upon entering the building and must wear face coverings at all times.
Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. has been pleased with the success of the precautions thus far, but urges vigilance going forward. “We are not out of the woods yet. As this new wave of infection spreads in Suffolk County, we need to ramp up our efforts to keep it out of the correctional facilities, where social distancing is difficult. We were successful before, and we can do it again.”