Inmates at the Travis County Jail have begun to sew thousands of cloth face coverings for deputies, corrections officers and their fellow inmates as a way to prevent a coronavirus outbreak in the facility.
The masks will be made from surplus uniforms as well as employees’ donated fabric, and the inmates will use three to four sewing machines to make them, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Kristen Dark.
Wearing masks is optional for jail personnel and inmates, and the sheriff’s office wants to make them available for those who want them, Dark said.
Austin and Travis County officials this week recommended that residents use fabric face coverings in public when conducting essential business. The local direction is in line with recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says the coverings are an additional protective measure to prevent those without symptoms from unknowingly spreading the virus.
The Travis County sheriff’s office has so far allowed jail employees to bring their own masks to work if they choose.
“We can’t make it mandatory for our employees and inmates if we don’t have the products. … If we allow officers to wear masks as their choice, then we also need to give that opportunity to inmates,” Dark said. “They have the right to feel more secure about their safety as well. And so, to that end, we are accepting donations of masks, but we’ve also started making our own.”
Inmates who work in the Travis County Jail are not paid, regardless of the type of labor, Dark said. Those who make the masks will accrue credits toward early release, like any inmate who works in the jail.
The first people on the list to receive the newly crafted masks will be the jail’s older population and those with weakened immune systems, Dark said.
Four coronavirus tests have so far been administered to inmates, Dark said. Two tests have come back negative, and two are pending.
Whenever an inmate is booked into the jail, he or she is now placed in isolation for 10 to 14 days, Dark said. If a person doesn’t develop any coronavirus symptoms, then they are introduced into the jail’s general population.
Inmates who show symptoms of the coronavirus or who refuse to answer a CDC questionnaire are quarantined on a separate floor of the jail, Dark said.
As of Tuesday, 163 inmates were in isolation and 21 were in quarantine, she said.
Dark said the Travis County Jail is uniquely equipped to quarantine inmates because the air in each individual cell is ventilated out of the building.
“That way, there’s no recirculated air in the Travis County Jail,” Dark said.
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