Esteban Gonzalez, chief custody deputy of the Onondaga County Justice Center, has been ensuring that the jail remains safe for staff and inmates. 

"When all the guidelines came out from the CDC, masking became mandatory, social distancing became mandatory, and cleaning the building became mandatory. So in a 24 hour period, we clean everything six to nine times in a 24 hour period,” Gonzalez said. “We absolutely prepared for that eventuality and eventually it did happen. We were lucky to go five to six months now."

Early March marked the closure of Central New York, but the Justice Center is only seeing cases recently. Three staff members tested positive, were sent home to isolate, and have already returned to work. In the last week, two new inmates have tested positive. They’re both in negative pressure rooms, quarantining. And all inmates are tested before going into the justice center to prevent any positive cases from making their way in.

It’s likely they brought the virus in, something Gonzalez anticipated.

“So everybody that goes in still goes into quarantine for 14 days because of the possibility of false negatives. But even in those 14 days, we realize that you could test positive in a housing unit so everyone in that unit has to be tested,” said Gonzalez.

The two people testing positive remain in negative pressure rooms in the medical ward. To contain any potential spread, new intakes are separated into three groups based on days they’ve been inside. These groups do recreation together.

“Even with that, they’re still mandated to have masks on. We even took the sewing out of the common area. Over in the television watching area, the seating was taken out. We made it impossible for staff and inmates to congregate” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez attributes the lack of cases due to precautions taken as well as fewer inmates in the jail.

“With centralized arraignment, raise the age, bail reform and now with COVID, those four things have dropped the population so much so that the system is so low on inmate population that we have the capability to spread inmates out,” said Gonzalez.

Contact tracing is conducted within the jail and by the Department of Health in the community.