The Madison County jail in Rexburg, Idaho, isn’t changing its preparations over the coronavirus even though Lori Vallow Daybell, a high-profile client is one of the jail’s inmates, Isaac Payne, the public information officer there, told the Deseret News.
Payne said: “Her presence doesn’t change our preparation in anyway. She gets treated the same as any other inmate we have.”
Vallow Daybell sits behind bars at the Madison County jail on a $1 million bail on charges of desertion and nonsupport after her two children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, went missing last year.
But Payne said she will be screened like anyone else in the jail. He said Badger Medical, which offers all medical needs, will be screening all of the inmates’ health throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.
“We screen their health anyway. They come into our jail. They get a medical screening when they arrive,” Payne said. “So that’s going to be amped up a bit and that they’re just gonna be watching all the inmates health. Our medical staff is on call 24 hours a day if we need them.”
Payne said the jail is using prevention protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said the jail will follow CDC guidelines for now and continue to monitor inmates for four to six weeks.
“We normally keep a very clean facility. We clean multiple times a day anyway, and we’re actually increasing that rate just as a precaution,” he said.
Payne said there won’t be a lot of outside visitors, either. The jail also uses a video visiting system “so we don’t have a lot of people visiting our facility,” he said.
“Every facility has that ability, and we’re fortunate enough to have that option. So that’s nice for us,” he said.
Church programs and recovery programs will use a similar system, which “limits traffic coming in and out of the jail,” according to Payne.
Payne said the jail will limit transfers, too. He said there won’t be any tours or on-site visits unless an attorney needs to visit his or her client.
“We posted the informational things for the inmates to read through and we’re monitoring them constantly. So we’re taking every precaution we possibly can. And hopefully we will keep them all in good health and safe here.”