DAYTON — Attorneys for Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the court to intervene and require Public Health to take action with its repeated requests for all inmates and staff at the Montgomery County Jail to be tested for coronavirus.
“Public Health has a clear legal duty to study and record the prevalence of COVID-19 within the Montgomery County Jail and provide for its prompt diagnosis and control,” lawyers for ABLE said.
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Public Health -Dayton & Montgomery County spokesman Dan Suffoletto said there is testing ongoing at the jail for inmates and staff that have shown signs and symptoms of the virus, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
An email from Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Jail Commander Jeremy Roy, included in the exhibits for the case, showed that the jail had 35 positive cases out of the 68 tests that had been given at the jail. “We have 11 inmates still in custody whom are positive and in some stage of their 14-day isolation period,” Roy said in the July 9 email.
A spokesman for Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County said as of today there have been 45 total cases at the jail, including 37 inmates and 8 jail staff.
Documents included in the lawsuit include a June 26 memorandum from Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County, where the health department recommended testing for all jail inmates and staff.
In an email included in the lawsuit from Teresa Russell, director of criminal justice outreach for the sheriff’s office, she argued that testing the entire facility would only give a “one point in time” result of coronavirus within the jail. She said the jail’s health services administrator NaphCare told the Sheriff’s Office the health services provider “saw no substantial benefit” because “the population is transient.”
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office issued a written statement Tuesday afternoon after the lawsuit against Public Health was filed.
“We know that there are questions and concerns among family and friends of loved ones inside our facility,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson said. “The management of COVID-19 has been a fluid situation and we can expect to continue updating policies and procedures as national and state best practices for correctional and detention facilities are modified.”
As of today, the county jail has nine inmates in custody that have tested positive for coronavirus and one staff member. The inmates are isolated and the staff member is currently in self-quarantine.
“The Montgomery County Jail intends to continue following guidelines and best practices specifically that entail isolating those who show signs and symptoms, testing those where it is medically indicated and completing contact tracing to properly identify and quarantine any potential exposures inside the jail,” the sheriff’s office said.
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