Mississippi jails working to prevent spread of the flu

CALHOUN COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The State Department of Health is echoing a national survey saying the flu is rampant in Mississippi, and it is spreading fastest in people under 24.

Schools are also being hard hit because students are in close quarters.

There’s another area where people are in close quarters, but sending them home is not an option.

There’s one area people don’t think the flu is a problem.

City and county jails.

However, prisoners get sick like everyone else, and because jailers must watch over and care for inmates, fighting the flu is a struggle for the people in blue.

Confined spaces and people living in close quarters sounds like the ideal breeding ground for a flu outbreak.

Unfortunately, it’s also the perfect description of a county jail, so when the virus moves into the general population, it can be hard to stop.

It’s something Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan has seen firsthand.

“Last year during flu season, we probably had ten or fifteen inmates and probably six or seven employees that had it last year,” said Pollan.

That’s why the staff is taking extra steps to make sure the jail is as clean as possible, and to keep sick inmates and staff away from everyone else.

Pollan says right now, he has one deputy out with the flu and one sick inmate.

“Last week, we had one that came in with a cough, so we put him in isolation. We are a small jail, so I’m not sure how effective that was, but I have not seen an increase in illness, or we have not had to take many to the doctor in the last couple of weeks, so knock on wood, we’ve been very fortunate. We haven’t had to deal with that very much,” said Pollan.

He’s thankful because when it happens and starts moving from inmate to inmate, it impacts the jail’s day to day operations.

“We would have the expense of taking care of the inmates and then a bigger problem of trying to keep them isolated, which is not very easy in a jail setting, so yeah, it runs into an issue and then you have employees coming in contact with those inmates on a regular basis, so it turns into a logistics problem real quick,” said Pollan.

He said last year’s experience with the jail’s flu epidemic made everyone even more alert this year.

“I think my jail staff has done a better job, based on what happened to us last year, of handling it and like I said, so far, it hasn’t been much of an issue with us this year,” said Pollan.