In this week’s article I would like to continue highlighting various aspects of the Sheriff’s Department as my “2022 Annual Report” to the community. In this article I am going to introduce our community to another component of our operations which many are not aware of; our medical care services. By state statute, I as the Sheriff must care for those remanded to the Jail by the Courts. This is a very broad directive, which brings with it many responsibilities, including the responsibility to care for the physical and mental well being of Jail Inmates. I am very privileged to have the dedicated staff here at the Jail who actually executes that mission.
To effectively carry out this role, while mitigating risks to our facility and costs to the tax payers, each individual must undergo a screening process prior to entering our facility. This screening process is conducted regardless of time spent in our facility. Even if it is as a result of an arrest and that individual will be getting released in a short period of time, the screening must be conducted. If during this screening process it is determined that medical or mental health services are necessary, the arresting officer must take the individual to a medical facility for what we call a “Medical Clearance” examination. Upon successful completion of that examination, the individual is then able to be fully processed into our jail facility.
Once in our facility, we take great efforts in monitoring the physical wellness of our inmates. We are able to do this through the vigilance of our staff and the professional services of our medical contract provider. We are fortunate to have two amazing representatives of this agency assigned to our facility as part of our contract, and we maintain a constant flow of communication and consultation as issues arise. For some our inmates, this level of care may be the best they have received in many years and actually are released from jail with a better appreciation and understanding of what they need to do to maintain their health, thus making them more productive members of our community. This is a similar case to the meal services we provide at the jail that I wrote about last week. It is our hope that between the improved dietary experience and the medical services, we provide at least somewhat of a new perspective that the individual will take with them after their stay with us.
To this point, I wanted to share some feedback I get quite often regarding the use of inmates for community service. There was a time when we did release our inmates for the purpose of manual labor within the county. This is not a practice we have continued as this does in fact expose the county to increased liability and potential medical costs. Remember what I stated earlier in this article that we are responsible for the well-being of our inmates, well if we have them out and they get injured, we are then on the hook for those medical costs. This is why before we allow inmates out on Huber (Work Release), they must provide proof of employment and insurance. I do not know how other states work, and how they are able to carry out these types of work details, but as a Kewaunee County Tax Payer, I would rather pay the part-time help than run the risk of medical costs.
We are very fortunate to have the men and women who work within the jail setting who take these responsibilities as seriously as they do, and maintain constant vigilance so that we can keep those who are in our care as safe as possible while they contemplate their life choices and work to improve their lives after their release from our facility. Next week I provide you with a financial summary of 2022.
