Virus numbers suspend jail visitation

PENN YAN--Sheriff Ron Spike has temporarily suspended all visitation to the Yates County Jail again effective Monday, Jan. 11 as a cautionary move to reduce the risk of any COVID-19 and its variants exposure issues to inmates or staff. The jail administration, county public health, jail physician and jail medical staff concur with this temporary order.
At the beginning of the pandemic, jail visitation was stopped in March 2020 and resumed in August. It then was again stopped in December 2020 and resumed July 3, 2021. Jail in-person contact visitation is normally scheduled for weekends. Officers turned away an infected visitor this past weekend. All new inmate admissions are quarantined according to policy.
Jail staff implemented a video tablet virtual visitation for inmates at no cost at the time of the last suspension and will restart that program and make it readily available for inmates.
"The Yates County numbers have increased three-fold of late, and preventing the virus from entering the county jail currently averaging 40 or so inmates is paramount," said Spike. "We have been monitoring the local and regional increases in numbers of people contracting the virus, especially omicron variant, and those being quarantined. Reducing the risk of infecting staff or inmates in order to prevent an outbreak is essential at this time."
Anyone that requires more information should call 315-536-5175.