Covid cases reported at juvenile detention center; Westmoreland jail free of virus

Two children in the shelter program at Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center tested positive for the coronavirus.

Nicole Kamer, director of the Regional Youth Services Center in Hempfield, said Monday that two teens were in quarantine. Officials suspected they came into contact with the virus while attending school outside of the facility.

“We think they were exposed at their home schools,” Kamer said.

Children in the shelter program attend school in the home districts. Juveniles in custody as part of the detention program attend classes at the facility.

The teens are the first in the eight-bed shelter program for at-risk children to have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Kamer said. Three juveniles in the 16-bed detention center wing of the facility had previously tested positive. There were no current cases among the six kids in custody on Monday.

Kamer said six juveniles also are living in the shelter wing.

County prison Warden Bryan Kline reported Monday there were no active coronavirus cases among the nearly 600 inmates at the adult lockup located across the parking lot from the juvenile detention center.

Kline said 128 inmates, about 24% of the facility’s population, are fully vaccinated for the coronavirus. Another vaccination clinic for inmates will be conducted in mid October, Kline said.

The jail has struggled with multiple coronavirus outbreaks since the start of the pandemic as more than 173 inmates tested positive for coronavirus have since recovered.

Meanwhile, the county’s prison board on Monday declined to vote on a proposal to extend a telecommunications contract for an additional five years.

The board, which includes the three county commissioners, Controller Jeff Balzer, District Attorney John Peck and Sheriff James Albert, instead authorized the county solicitor to enter negotiations with Global Tel Link to craft a new deal to provide telephone and other services at the jail. The company’s current deal is set to expire on Jan. 8, 2023. Under terms of the existing contract, the county receives a minimum of $472,000 and commissions on revenue earned through collect calls made by inmates and for use of tablets for entertainment.

The company also proposed to furnish tablets to each inmate. The tablets could be used for in-cell video visits with friends and family members, commissioners said.

Commissioners said the county will also seek out proposals from other communications companies.