While the coronavirus ground many services to a halt in Missouri, some jobs couldn’t stop. One of those jobs is looking after inmates in jails and prisons.
Jake Bass-Barber has worked as a detention officer in Greene County for the past two years. As part of his job he does security rounds around the jail every 30 minutes, and lets out inmates for recreational time three times a day. He serves meals in the housing units.
He says his favorite part of the job is talking with the inmates. He says detention officers at the Greene County Jail have more direct contact with inmates than at other facilities, so Bass-Barber developed a rapport with inmates, learning more about them and even developing inside jokes.
“I kind of get to know them and kind of feel out their situation," Bass-Barber told KSMU. "So I would say that talking to the inmates and mingling with them is what I enjoy the most.”
Those relationships changed this spring, as COVID-19 swept through the country and made its official appearance in Springfield in March. Bass-Barber says he expected a big change in the way he did his job.
“I knew that we were going to be impacted some way,” he remembered.
He said one of the main things that has changed is mealtimes. At times throughout the pandemic, inmates have received their meals in their own cells as opposed to eating in a group setting.
"Usually people come and sit down at the chairs and tables and whatnot, but that wasn’t the case when COVID was in full swing. So definitely a lot has changed since COVID started,” Bass-Barber said.
During the strict lockdown, he says only six to twelve inmates could get rec time at once.
We requested to know how many inmates in the Greene County jail have been confirmed positive with COVID-19, but did not receive that information by our deadline. Earlier this fall, the Greene County jail was reporting some of its numbers on social media, with dozens of confirmed cases.
One of those lost was detention officer Dwight Willis, who served at the Sheriff’s Office for 19 years, according to the office’s Facebook page.
Jails and prisons across the state and nationwide have faced COVID-19 outbreaks, some with deadly results. The CDC reported 312 active COVID cases in detention facilities in Missouri as of December 13. 46 inmates and 4 staff members have died statewide, according to the CDC.
Other states are struggling with outbreaks in jail and prison. NPR has reported 231 deaths in Texas detention facilities in mid-November, while in California, a botched transfer of 100 prisoners to the overcrowded San Quentin prison infected over a third of the prison population by the start of July. The state of Texas reported 119 COVID deaths in jails and prisons, all of them inmates.
At the Greene County Jail, Bass-Barber says detention officers wear masks and gloves at all times. Prisoners are given masks they’re required to wear when they’re outside of their cells, and they are required to practice social distancing.
Bass-Barber told KSMU the most challenging part of his job during COVID was keeping track of which inmates were contagious and which weren’t, which means giving inmates separate rec and meal times.
“Keeping track of all that has added quite a bit of extra work, I would say,” he said.
Bass-Barber says the pandemic hasn’t really affected him emotionally or mentally, but he definitely thinks he’s had to develop better communication with his fellow corrections officers to navigate the logistical challenges of quarantine.
“I’m pretty easily adaptable here," he said. "There’s change here all the time in the jail, so adapting is just one more curveball thrown this way. It’s part of a job.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends jail staff follow guidelines such as masking, social distancing, hand-washing, and making sure all staff receive a flu shot.
The CDC also discourages in-person visits. The Greene County jail discontinued in-person visits in 2018.
