The Clarion County jail has reported its first case of the COVID-19 virus.
Warden Jeff Hornberger told the county’s Jail Inspection Board Thursday that one inmate tested positive for the virus in November.
Hornberger said the inmate was taken to Clarion Hospital for testing. The warden said it took several days for the test results and the inmate was placed in quarantine when he returned.
Hornberger said 15 COVID tests were performed on inmates in December. The state requires inmates have a negative COVID test before they can be admitted by the Department of Corrections.
The Clarion jail can’t require a person to have a COVID test prior to being admitted.
“We get people directly off of the street so that would be pretty hard to do,” said Hornberger. “The best we can do is take their temperature and ask if they have been around anyone with COVID.”
Jail board member Rex Munsee, who is the county sheriff, told the board the state has informed him that no prisoner transfers can be scheduled before March or April to a state prison. The sheriff’s department is responsible for transporting prisoners sentenced to a state prison, and prisoners must have a negative COVID test before they are admitted.
“We do have six inmates here presently who are going to (a state prison),” said Hornberger.
“We are moving three this month but March or April will be the quickest we can move anyone else,” said Munsee.
Hornberger said inmates are paying for their own uniforms.
“The profits from the commissary items purchased by the inmates are used to buy uniforms, sheets, towels, basically anything inmate related,” Hornberger said. “The taxpayers have never seen a bill for anything like that.”
The warden said the work release program remains inactive, and there continues to be no visitation at the jail.
County commissioner Wayne Brosius was re-elected jail board chairman, and district attorney Drew Welsh is the vice chairman.