NIJO has put together this page as a resource to provide updates on this rapidly evolving situation. Below you will find direct links to help you stay abreast of the situation, with guidance from federal agencies, which we will keep updated throughout these unprecedented challenges.

Additionally, in response to the need for immediate training on dealing with COVID-19 and other communicable disease in jails, NIJO has added a new course to our DACOTA Online Training Library. NIJO is offering 14-Day FREE ACCESS to this course for corrections professionals across the country. To access this course, click here and then “REGISTER”. You will receive an email within 12 hours granting you access to this informative course “COVID-19 and Other Communicable Diseases and Jails” by Dr. Johnny E. Bates (MD, MMM, CPE, CPHIMS, CCHP-Physician), Founder and CEO of Quality Correctional Health Care (QCHC). Dr. Bates has over 35 years experience as a physician and over 20 years experience in correctional medicine and medical management.

LEGAL-BASED RESOURCES

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR: Using Common Sense to COVID-19 during Uncommon Times

Many correctional facilities across the country have been operating short staffed, overpopulated and challenged in caring for a mentally ill population that has no business being in their facilities. Resilient administrators have done the best they can with what few resources they have under these trying circumstances…read article

Litigation Alert: The Coronavirus, Prisons, and the 8th Amendment

LATEST NEWS

PREVENTION & RESOURCES

CDC – COVID-19 Guidance for Correctional Facilities:
- Printable Version of “Interim Guidance on Management of Coronavirus Disease in Correctional and Detention Facilities”
- Operational Preparedness: This guidance is intended to help facilities prepare for potential COVID-19 transmission in the facilities. Strategies focus on operational and communications planning and personnel practices.
- Prevention: This guidance is intended to help facilities prevent spread of COVID-19 from outside the facility to inside. Strategies focus on reinforcing hygiene practices, intensifying cleaning and disinfection
  of the facility, screening (new intakes, visitors, and staff), continued communication with incarcerated/detained persons and staff, and social distancing measures (increasing distance between individuals).
- Management: This guidance is intended to help facilities clinically manage confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases inside the facility and prevent further transmission. Strategies include medical isolation and care of incarcerated/detained persons with symptoms (including considerations for cohorting), quarantine of cases’ close contacts, restricting movement in and out of the facility, infection control practices for individuals interacting with cases and quarantined contacts or contaminated items, intensified social distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting areas visited by cases.
President Trump’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America – 15 Days to Slow the Spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Implementation of Mitigation Strategies for Communities with Local COVID-19 Transmission
Information for Law Enforcement Personnel
CDC Correctional Health Page
Correctional Health – Recommendations and Guidance (CDC)\
WHO Daily Press Briefings
WHO COVID-19 Situation Dashboard