Protective Measures

• Screening. Everyone who enters our facilities receives a health screening and has their temperature taken at the gatehouse. Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or higher or who otherwise does not pass the screening is immediately sent home. All facilities also have rapid COVID-19 tests that can be used to determine if an employee or guest is positive for the virus. Additionally, all youth committed to our care receive a health screening by the local probation department prior to movement and again upon arrival at TJJD. All newly admitted youth wear a mask until a complete medical history and assessment can occur.
• Hand washing. TJJD has installed portable handwashing stations outside our gatehouse for staff and throughout the secure facilities for both youth and staff. Staff and youth are reminded to wash their hands frequently during the day. Hey 
• Masks. All staff at TJJD secure facilities and halfway houses may wear protective masks if they choose. a 
• Volunteers and visitors. In-person family visitation at our facilities was reinstated on March 13, 2021 and volunteers were welcomed back on campuses in spring 2022. Family members and approved guests are screened at the gatehouse before being allowed to enter the campus.  
• Medical quarantine and COVID-19 testing. Each TJJD facility has set aside space for medical quarantine. Any youth who shows symptoms that could potentially be the result of a COVID-19 infection is moved to quarantine and administered a test. Youth are released from quarantine following a negative test and a medically observed resolution of symptoms based on CDC guidelines. In addition, youth are tested:

  1. At intake to a TJJD facility
  2. If they had interactions with any staff member who tests positive for COVID-19
  3. If the TJJD medical team determines that a potential COVID-19 infection of a staff member warrants the testing of particular youth

• Cleaning. Our facilities are cleaning routinely with a focus on high-touch surfaces. Guidance includes safety standards on use of multiple cleaning products.
• Education. Youth in quarantine due to COVID illness receive support and tutoring through educational materials provided by teachers.  
• Recreation. We understand that engagement and interaction are essential to our youth and that when youths’ daily activities are interrupted, it can cause frustration and anxiety. Staff are charged with providing as many structured activities, physical activities, and opportunities to be outdoors or visit other recreation spaces as possible when dorms experience a quarantine related to illness.
• Telework. Most non-direct-care staff are telework eligible and TJJD facilitated broad use of telework by updating the virtual private network (VPN) and distributing laptops to enable work from home. 
• Parole supervision. Parole visit schedules employed increased use of video and phone contacts during the initial months of the pandemic to minimize disease spread, but returned to more in-person contact as the risks of the pandemic eased.
• Community service and work for youth. Halfway houses have returned to allowing youth to engage in community service work and parolees also have returned to full schedules fulfilling work and/or community service requirements. This follows an initial period early in the pandemic when these requirements had to be modified or suspended.