COVID-19 cases rise in Nacogdoches County

Jail
Blake Stoneburner
stoneburba@jacks.sfasu.edu (Oct. 11, 2021)

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Nacogdoches County Sheriff Jason Bridges reported on Friday that
45 of the incarcerated in the Nacogdoches County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19.

According to Sheriff Bridges, 11 of the infected inmates

have received antibody infusions which has helped
most of them, saying “Right now, everybody’s doing
pretty good with it. Some were more seriously sick and
the infusions did help them.” Sheriff Bridges goes on to
say that the infusions are a blessing and he hopes that
using this new treatment and following the guidelines
set up by the jailhouse physician will keep the number Nacogdoches County
of cases down. Jail

This rise in COVID cases at the Nacogdoches County Jail did

not come out of nowhere. On September 24th, it was reported that five out of the 258 inmates at
the jailhouse had tested positive for COVID-19. Treatment was quickly started for those who
were infected. Two of the initial five were scheduled to receive infusion therapy. Jailers were
tasked with asking medical questions and taking the temperatures of detainees during the
booking process. Detainees were tested frequently as well.

All of the inmates that were diagnosed with COVID-19 while in the jail received treatments
prescribed by a doctor as well. After diagnosis and treatment inmates are returned to the dorm to
get better. Bridges explained that “If you have somebody that’s positive inside of a dorm,
obviously they have already exposed people in that dorm so, what do we do we treat them like a
household.” Mothers of two of the men that have been detained claimed that inmates who tested
positive for COVID-19 are sent back to their holding cells with the general population. One
mother claimed that the over the counter medicines such as Tylenol were charged to her sons
commissary account.

Attorney Sean Hightower, who also serves on the hospital board, has been taking precautions
when visiting his clients. He prefers to use Zoom to meet most of his clients, but says that at
certain times, face to face meetings are unavoidable. “I do take as many precautions as I can
while I’m here. Monitor temperature obviously and then sanitizing the truck,” Hightower said.
Inmates were not the only people getting infected with COVID-19 at the county jail. Two of the
deputies that work to patrol the jail had caught COVID-19 as well as one of the jailers that had to
go on medical leave to recover from the virus. Despite being down a vocational nurse,
Bridges says there is still suitable medical staff providing treatment, but the real issue
is the shortage of jailers. Bridges claimed, “We’re over 10 positions down in jail staff.
And it’s hurt us.” In order to keep the jail in compliance and up to state standards, off
duty deputies have been permitted to work in the facility. Statewide jails are facing a
COVID-19 and staffing crisis. “The jail is currently at capacity, when you have this
amount of traffic, it’s difficult to prevent it entirely. We learned a lot in the first wave,
and we hope we are better and stopping the spread now,” Bridges said.

As of October 14, 2021 there are 286 inmates in the Nacogdoches

Sheriff Jason
Bridges County Jail, 45 of which have tested positive for COVID-19.

Pictures
 Picture 1
https://www.kltv.com/2020/10/27/increased-testing-leads-drastic-decrease-covid-cases-
nacogdoches-county-jail/

Picture 2
https://www.ktre.com/story/18148930/jason-bridges-profile/