40% Prison vaccination rate
About 60% of Lincoln Parish Detention Center inmates have refused the COVID-19 vaccine, while only four have tested positive for the respiratory virus, Warden Jim Tuten told members of the jail’s governing board Thursday.
In his report on COVID procedures at the prison, Tuten said inmate screening, visitation restrictions and other measures have remained in place throughout the pandemic, efforts to which he partly attributes the low number of positive cases.
“We’re still taking inmates’ temperature three times a day,” he said. “Employees still take their temperature when they first come in. We’ve had a total of four inmates who’ve tested positive for COVID. None required hospitalization — they were all asymptomatic.”
The detention center is operated by the Lincoln Parish Sheriff ’s Office under the authority of the Lincoln Parish Detention Center Commission.
Tuten said free COVID vaccinations have been made available to all inmates, with about 40% taking up the offer and 60% refusing.
That’s a slightly higher vaccination rate than the general Lincoln Parish population, which came in at about 34% fully vaccinated and 39% partially vaccinated as of Friday, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
Since March of 2020, in-person visitation has been nixed at the LPDC. To compensate, phone and videoconference visitation, which previously had limited hours of operation, has been extended to 24/7 service.
The commission also established meeting dates to introduce and subsequently adopt the amended 2021 and proposed 2022 budgets for the detention center. Those meetings will take place on Nov. 17 and Dec. 15.
