Ellis County jail shows no signs of COVID-19

WAXAHACHIE - While it was recently reported that nearly 1300 inmates and 400 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 in Texas prisons - and over 20 inmates have died, some local county jails where prisoners are taken after arrest are making sure their jails are pandemic free.

In Waxahachie, the Ellis County jail has not seen one case of COVID-19, and the county is making sure that does not change.

Ellis County Sheriff Chuck Edge said his department is very proactive when it comes to assuring safety of the staff and inmates.

It is a testament to the work being done by the jail staff and county officials. Just next door in Dallas County in mid-April, that

When prisoners being booked into the Ellis County jail arrive, they must wait until medical staff are on hand to take their temperature and ask them a series of questions.

An inmate’s temperature must not be over 100.3 when they arrive in order to be put into the inmate population.

The jail also has two negative pressure cells where inmates are directed if they should be detected with a fever. This is in order to keep the possible ill inmates out of the jail population. Inmates are also quarantined as necessary to assure all are kept safe, including employees at the jail.

Sheriff Edge said, “We want to assure the safety of everyone at the jail and that was even before the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Ellis County Judge Todd Little said there are 550 county employees overall including jail employees, and he is proud to say not one county employee has tested positive for COVID-19.

“It is a testament to the teamwork here in Ellis County,” Judge Little said.

“We have been proactive, smart and vigilant. It has been a collective team effort.”