Beaufort County jail has first known COVID-19 case; detainee now quarantined
Beaufort County’s jail has its first COVID-19 case and is quarantining the detainee, a county spokesperson said.
The Beaufort County Detention Center booked a man in the last two weeks who was exhibiting symptoms of the virus. He was brought to the hospital where he tested positive. He did not contract it at the jail and is being held away from the general population, said Liz Farrell, spokesperson for Beaufort County.
He is being treated in the jail’s medical center by staff. Because of that, Farrell said the jail is bound by HIPAA rules and declined to provide more information on the detainee.
As of the morning of August 26, the general population of BCDC is 156 detainees.
Most of those being held at the jail on a long-term basis have been there for months because they have been charged with a violent crime and cannot pay their bond or are being held without bond.
The majority of those booked into BCDC are charged with less serious offenses and are able to leave after posting bond, which a judge is required to set within 24 hours of their arrest.
Every new arrival at the jail, no matter the charge, is sequestered from the general population and then required to quarantine for 14 days if they stay past their bond hearing, said Farrell.
“Our detention center staff has been working really hard to make sure the virus doesn’t get into the detention center,” she said. “They’ve been very cautious.”
Two calls to Arthur Benjamin, director of the Jasper County Detention Center, on the status of COVID-19 in that jail were not returned Wednesday morning.
A study released in April by the American Civil Liberties Union and academic researchers found that jails are missing from most public health models projecting coronavirus spread. The research found that the death toll there will be much worse unless jails better enforce social distancing and communities reduce arrests and incarceration.
“As a result of the constant movement between jails and the broader community, our jails will act as vectors for the COVID-19 pandemic in our communities,” the report stated. “They will become veritable volcanoes for the spread of the virus.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 12:26 PM.
