Coping with COVID-19: How protocols and ‘luck’ largely protected Cheshire County’s justice system – The Keene Sentinel

As the Cheshire County Department of Corrections adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, the county jail avoided large outbreaks, with only a single inmate hospitalized for the disease, according to the departments superintendent, Douglas Iosue.

Despite the widespread disruption the virus wrought throughout the Monadnock Region and beyond, the local criminal justice system from the courts to the jail has continued to operate mostly unimpeded through much of the pandemic, court and corrections officials said. Thats due in large part to changes in the systems protocols ranging from the lasting, like videoconferencing to help facilitate many court proceedings, to the short-term changes to jail operations designed to protect inmates and staff.

Even as the virus surged through New Hampshire and the country, COVID-19 only reached the general jail population twice in the past two years, according to Iosue, who became the jails superintendent in May 2020, after more than a decade as a case worker there.

He chalks that up to good planning and protocols that were founded in science and medical advice and luck.

The plan the jail has in place today has been refined and updated several times over the past two years, as the scientific understanding of the disease and how it is transmitted changed, Iosue said. The superintendent said he crafted pandemic protocols based on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state guidance, as well as with input from the jails consulting medical director, Dr. Andrew Tremblay, and physician assistant, David Segal.

I do think weve done a very good job with this pandemic plan, Iosue said. You might call it best practice for how to manage COVID in a correctional facility.

But as has been proven time and time again the virus is unpredictable and no plan is a guarantee, Iosue said.

It was outright luck because even with the best plan I could never guarantee we could keep COVID out, he said. Its about reducing risk.

The jails pandemic plan is broken into three stages: preventative measures, outbreak-quarantine and extensive outbreak. Reducing risk happens in that first stage, as inmates are booked and admitted into the facility, Iosue said.

The latter two stages are only implemented when the virus moves past newly admitted inmates and into the general jail population, he said, noting the jail has only had to activate the Stage 2 protocols twice. First in September 2021, when 12 inmates and one staff member were infected. Then again in January and February, when 16 inmates six men and 10 women tested positive, the superintendent said.

Stage 3 protocols have never been activated at the Cheshire County Department of Corrections, according to Iosue.

Preventative measures start with R&D, or reception and diagnostics, the phase when inmates first arrive at the jail, Iosue said. That phase has always included a health assessment but with the pandemic it was extended, he said.

The jail population is transitory, with inmates continuously being booked and released. County jails house pretrial inmates and those serving short sentences, while state prisons house those who have been sentenced to significant time behind bars. In 2020, there were a total of 923 bookings at the jail, with the incarcerated population averaging about 100 people at any given time, according to Iosue. The population remained at about the same level in 2021, during which there was a total of 930 bookings, he said.

People coming into the jail from the community including new inmates, staff, attorneys and volunteers where COVID-19 is spreading present the most risk to the incarcerated population at the jail, the superintendent said.

Inmates coming in, we realized early on, are potentially a risk coming in from the community, Iosue said. Once they start to interact with the general [jail] population, thats where the risk increases to the rest [of the inmates] and staff.

The Cheshire County jail

The Cheshire County jail, shown Tuesday morning, on Marlboro Street in Keene.

The Cheshire County jail

One of two video court-hearing rooms, in the booking department at the Cheshire County jail in Keene, as seen Tuesday morning. The jail had one video court-hearing room prior to the pandemic and now has two, due both to COVID-19 and an increased number of federal inmates, according to Superintendent Doug Iosue.

The Cheshire County jail

An arraignment, taking place via video call, as seen in the booking department at the Cheshire County jail in Keene on Tuesday morning.

The Cheshire County jail

A video call station in F Block, for incarcerated females, as seen at the Cheshire County jail in Keene on Tuesday morning.

The Cheshire County jail

F Block at the Cheshire County jail in Keene. Cells F101-F106 are used to house and quarantine newly incarcerated females. This practice was in place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the quarantine length was adjusted. Before, quarantine could last between three and seven days, on the longer end if detox was required. At the peak of the pandemic, quarantine could last up to 14 days, but is currently at 10.

The Cheshire County jail

A cart for hosting Zoom calls, as seen at the Cheshire County jail in Keene on Tuesday morning.

The Cheshire County jail

A cell in R Block a wing designated in the Cheshire County jail's COVID-19 guidelines for single occupancy as seen Tuesday morning. This block of single-occupancy male cells is used mostly for reception and diagnostics in the intake process.

The Cheshire County jail

Doug Iosue, superintendent of the Cheshire County jail in Keene, exits the R housing block there on Tuesday morning. This block is designated for single-cell occupancy under the jail's COVID-19 guidelines.

The Cheshire County jail

The Cheshire County jail on Marlboro Street in Keene.

The Cheshire County jail

The Cheshire County jail, shown Tuesday morning, on Marlboro Street in Keene.

The Cheshire County jail

One of two video court-hearing rooms, in the booking department at the Cheshire County jail in Keene, as seen Tuesday morning. The jail had one video court-hearing room prior to the pandemic and now has two, due both to COVID-19 and an increased number of federal inmates, according to Superintendent Doug Iosue.

The Cheshire County jail

An arraignment, taking place via video call, as seen in the booking department at the Cheshire County jail in Keene on Tuesday morning.

The Cheshire County jail

A video call station in F Block, for incarcerated females, as seen at the Cheshire County jail in Keene on Tuesday morning.

The Cheshire County jail

F Block at the Cheshire County jail in Keene. Cells F101-F106 are used to house and quarantine newly incarcerated females. This practice was in place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the quarantine length was adjusted. Before, quarantine could last between three and seven days, on the longer end if detox was required. At the peak of the pandemic, quarantine could last up to 14 days, but is currently at 10.

The Cheshire County jail

A cart for hosting Zoom calls, as seen at the Cheshire County jail in Keene on Tuesday morning.

The Cheshire County jail

A cell in R Block a wing designated in the Cheshire County jail's COVID-19 guidelines for single occupancy as seen Tuesday morning. This block of single-occupancy male cells is used mostly for reception and diagnostics in the intake process.

The Cheshire County jail

Doug Iosue, superintendent of the Cheshire County jail in Keene, exits the R housing block there on Tuesday morning. This block is designated for single-cell occupancy under the jail's COVID-19 guidelines.

The Cheshire County jail

The Cheshire County jail on Marlboro Street in Keene.

New inmates are screened with a rapid COVID-19 test as part of the initial booking process, according to the jails protocols. Inmates who test positive are placed in holding cells until the medical team clears them. All inmates who do not test positive are moved to one of two blocks designated as single cell occupancy for a minimum quarantine period of 10 days, until they can safely be moved to the general population, the protocols state.

Basically, it is a lot of time spent alone in a cell with only an hour out a day, Iosue said.

Meanwhile, staff, attorneys and visitors entering the jail go through a screening process that includes questions about potential exposure or symptoms. Staff also must undergo temperature checks, he said.

Masking guidance for those visiting the jail has changed periodically throughout the pandemic, Iosue said. At present, people visiting the wings where new inmates are quarantining must wear a mask, while staff in the rest of the facility who are up to date on their vaccinations are not required to wear a mask, he said.

The jail began vaccinating inmates in April 2021. Upon booking, inmates are notified that the jails policy is to vaccinate unless they specifically opt out, according to the pandemic protocols. Inmates who are vaccinated receive $25 on their account as an incentive. About 40 to 50 percent of inmates at the facility are vaccinated, Iosue said. The jail cannot mandate vaccines, he added.

Early in the pandemic, the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations expressed concern that people who were locked up were going to be super vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, Iosue said.

At the time, if you remember, there was a lot of unknown, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of paranoia and fear, to some extent, as well, he said.

With incarcerated people forced into a group setting, many had concerns about whether there would be a mass outbreak and certainly, at many correctional facilities across the country there were, the superintendent said. This concern prompted some low-risk inmates about five or six people to be released from jail early or on GPS monitoring during 2020, he said.

But the Cheshire County Department of Corrections did not encounter its first outbreak until fall 2021, Iosue said. The outbreak in September prompted the facility to activate its Stage 2 protocol for the first time, he said.

During that September outbreak and the subsequent wave in January and February, the virus reached the general jail population, prompting all inmates to be tested and those who tested positive to be moved to temporary quarantine units, the superintendent said.

Those outbreaks mirrored the peaks nationally and in the state and in Cheshire County with COVID cases, Iosue said. Whether it came in from an inmate or staff and what the route of transmission was for the outbreaks, its impossible to say for sure.

Through the outbreaks, staff repeated the testing process until there was no more evidence of COVID-19 in the general inmate population, he said.

At times through the pandemic, staffing at the jail has been strained because of personnel who tested positive or had to quarantine due to close contact with someone who had COVID-19, Iosue said. Quarantine guidelines meant staff could be out of work for days at a time, he said.

There was more mandated overtime to cover openings when COVID was going on, the superintendent said. Because it was not just being out sick a day or two. You had to stay out a minimum of the most recent guidance is five full days after testing positive.

The jail was lucky that only one inmate ever required brief hospitalization due to COVID-19, Iosue said. Depending on the security risk posed by an inmate who has to be hospitalized, one or two staff members are required to monitor them at all times while they are out of the jail, he said, raising concern that this could have strained staff.

It was certainly a concern in the back of my mind: What would we do if we had people who were hospitalized for weeks and months due to COVID? the superintendent asked. What if we were to need to have not only one inmate needing that level of care and staffing? The most negative impact of COVID could have come with that.

Courts, transports and visitation

As the jail quickly adopted new health protocols throughout the pandemic, the courts system also altered operations to make proceedings more COVID-friendly.

At the start of the pandemic in spring 2020, the jail population dipped from about 100 inmates to between 70 and 80, according to Iosue. This was in large part due to the lockdowns that were in place and the population soon rebounded back to about 100 inmates, he said.

When the court system was really shut down, our census went down to the low 70s, the superintendent said. Which is the lowest its been in many, many years. It was clearly related to COVID.

Though court hearings slowed during the beginning of the pandemic, by August 2020, Cheshire County had become one of the first courthouses in the state to resume jury trials, according to Tina Nadeau, the chief justice of the N.H. Superior Court. The pandemic has not caused any lasting backlog at the court, she said.

Throughout the entire pandemic, the New Hampshire Judicial Branch remained open to the citizens of New Hampshire, Nadeau said in an email response to questions from The Sentinel. This was only possible because of the dedication of our court staff and the safety measures the Judicial Branch implemented and amended depending on the stage of the pandemic.

By the end of March 2020, the judicial branch had implemented initiatives to allow court proceedings to continue through the use of WebEx, a video conferencing platform, the chief justice said.

Iosue described the use of WebEx as one of the most important changes prompted by the pandemic.

[The courts] have significantly increased the use of video and a lot of that has continued even during periods of lower COVID-risk and transmission, he said. For the most part it has proved to be efficient without too many drawbacks.

While more significant court hearings require defendants and attorneys to be physically present in the court, this change with technology will never revert to pre-COVID completely, Iosue said.

Prior to the pandemic, use of WebEx was used sparingly, mostly for arraignments, at courts with the proper technology, Nadeau said.

Since the pandemic, the court has conducted listening sessions with members of the New Hampshire Bar Association, and learned that videoconferencing is beneficial in certain instances such as a negotiated plea and sentencing because of reduced travel times for attorneys and litigants, she said.

In other instances, where court proceedings are complex or contested, attorneys and litigants have found that resolving such cases in person is more appropriate, the chief justice said.

Sheriff Eli Rivera heads the Cheshire County Sheriffs Department, which is in charge of most of the regions inmate transports to and from the jail and court. Through the pandemic, the significant number of court hearings being held by video reduced the need to transport inmates, Rivera said.

COVID proved that it does work, that it can be done and a lot of cases were handled by video, he said. Now that restrictions have been lifted, were seeing courts go back to in-person and weve seen the increase in transports to in-person hearings again.

Through the heights of the pandemic, only one inmate would be transported per vehicle with staff and the inmate donning personal protective equipment, such as masks, for the duration, Rivera said. The sheriffs department has only recently returned to transporting multiple inmates at once, he said.

Even as the pandemic wore on many jail operations continued, including family and friend visitations and attorneys meeting with their clients, Iosue said.

Family and friend visitations had been done through on-site video conferencing even prior to the pandemic, with the visitor coming into the lobby and visiting their loved one at a booth with a small screen, the superintendent said. With the pandemic, more visitors used the option to video conference with inmates from home, he said.

As for lawyers visiting their incarcerated clients, that continued through the pandemic, Iosue said. When there were outbreaks in the jail, the courts were notified and some lawyers chose to use video conferencing options, he said.

Now two years into the pandemic, the jail has firm protocols in place but nonetheless remains vigilant, the department of corrections superintendent said.

I dont think any of us can be assured well be done with COVID, he said.

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Coping with COVID-19: How protocols and 'luck' largely protected Cheshire County's justice system - The Keene Sentinel