By David Fleet
Editor
Capt. Jason Gould described the Genesee County Jail as a concrete Petri dish, that if the coronavirus ever infests it will run through like wildfire.
Despite how contagious and potentially deadly the COVID-19 virus is, as of June 9, the Genesee County Jail reports zero cases with inmates.
“The key to prevention was in early March we got out in front of it,” said Gould, jail administrator. “As a team put in place a very stringent screening method, for all employees coming in as well as new inmates. We implemented the procedures that allowed us to take the temperature of every inmate twice a day. We also put in a policy for quarantine all new inmates for 14 days in addition to limiting the number of volunteer organizations that would come. We shut it all down.”
Gould added the team created a one point of entry at the jail facility. In the event a temperature spiked while they were in the jail they would know it right away.
“We did have inmates that came in with high temperatures, but it turned out to be the flu,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons it’s (coronavirus) an invisible enemy. It mimics other sickness.”

Capt. Gould along with Sheriff Chris Swanson’s rigorous prevention protocol are necessary as the coronavirus rampages through the nations jails and prisons.
As of last week, the Marshall Project, a non-profit journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States, documented more than 9,400 cases of the coronavirus in U.S. jails and prisons, with more than 140 deaths. A Twitter account tracking prison data puts the figure higher — more than 18,000 staff and prisoners infected in the 45 states providing data. According to the report known infection rate in jails and prisons is about 2½ times higher than in the general population, and as of this week, eight of the 10 largest outbreaks in the country have been at correctional facilities.
Nationwide, many officials have reduced the number of inmates housed at jails and prisons. As of Tuesday, the Genesee County Jail has 424 inmates.
“We never shut our jail down for assault cases,” said Gould. “But if someone was arrested on a misdemeanor or non violent crime, we would not take them to jail. We wanted to limit our number of people here at the jail. In fact we went from about 630 (inmates) to about 400. We work on the written order of the court and there are certain criteria the sheriff can follow for over crowding in the jail. If the population gets too high there are certain charges we can ask the judge to reduce either their sentence or their bond amount. However, there are certain crimes that’s not allowed—such as murder or homicide. That’s up to the judge.”
According to the Marshall Project, the growth nationwide in prison and jail of coronavirus cases in the last several weeks is due to a small number of states—Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Michigan, North Carolina —that have begun aggressively testing nearly everyone at prisons where people have become sick. The report suggests that coronavirus has been circulating in prisons in much greater numbers than known.
“Well it never did get in,” said Gould. “It was because of our screening procedure and our aggressive daily cleaning.”
Gould added that a cleaning crew starts at the bottom of the jail and goes to the top floors.
“They cover every touched surface on every level,” he said. “When they reach the top (of the building) the process starts over at the bottom.”
Gould said we have an outstanding group of officers at the jail.
Sgt. Ryan Rainwater, a 2000 Goodrich High School graduate and is one of 13 supervisors staff the jail 24 hours per day seven days per week.
“We never let our guard down from the very beginning of the virus,” said Rainwater, a 13 year veteran. “Our efforts paid off and we saved lives because of it. The Sheriff and staff recognized the seriousness of the coronavirus and acted to keep the infections out of the jail.”
Another challenge at the jail is there are 120 inmates per housing unit and they have open day room time where they all come out together.
“It is possible for them to do social distancing and we do encourage that, however, inmates don’t always adhere to that, as they should,” said Gould. “We did issue all the inmates face masks and if they come out of their cells they need to have the masks on or they have to go back.”
“A lot of time people carry the COVID-19 and don’t know it,” he said. “The next thing you know they are infecting others.”
All staff, inmates wear masks all the time. Inmates do follow the guidelines, he said.
“Sheriff Swanson and myself have taken time to get everyone out of their cells and explain the magnitude of the situation,” he said. “It was about education and presenting it to the inmates so they took it seriously too.”