We spoke with Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig about what is going on in the Manitowoc County Jail.
He told SeehaferNews.com that while they don’t have an overcrowding issue right now, “I’m hoping things get taken care of at the state level at some point, that we can start that flow out again.”
Hartwig says several steps have been taken to help combat the spread of the COVID 19 virus at the County Jail, however, a recent emergency order from the Department of Corrections has them a bit concerned. He explained that all the state prisons are shut down from allowing any new inmates coming in. This is affecting them because, “We do have a couple of inmates who ended up being sent to prison, but we can’t move them to any of those facilities until the order is taken away or rescinded.”
Hartwig says the inmate population has been somewhat reduced. He said all of their inmates that are on the Huber work release program have been released on electronic monitoring to reduce the amount of in and out traffic. He said that includes 33 inmates.
Other measures enacted include locking the front doors and suspending all elective programming such as religious studies and adult learning until further notice to eliminate foot traffic in and out of the jail. The staff at the jail has also increased the amount of cleaning they are doing to help ensure none of their inmates become infected.
All face to face visitor-inmate contact is prohibited but each inmate will get to make two free monthly phone calls and will still be able to order their canteen-Text message and e-mail through the “turnkey” system. Front Doors will be open for people to add money to inmate’s accounts but then they must leave immediately.
As of yesterday afternoon, Manitowoc County has not received a confirmed positive test for COVID 19.
