The Ross County Jail has been suspended from sending inmates to state prions.
The information was released Monday by the Department of Rehabilitations and Corrections.
According to DRC, Ross County Sheriff George Lavender was ordered that he could no longer send inmates to state prisons once they were sentenced. The reason for the suspension is because of Ross County’s Jail has an unusual number of positive COVID-19 cases.
“The Ross Coounty Jail was temporarily suspended from reception after transferring individuals to ODRC who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19,” said DRC spokeswoman JoEllen Smith. “At this same time, the Ross County Jail was also experiencing a number of cases at the jail.”
Earlier in the year, the state told counties that they could not send inmates who tested positive for COVID-19 to a state lockup without going through a 14-day quarantine. According to the state, Ross County was not adhering to this rule.
Sheriff George Lavender did not return messages seeking comment.
Smith did not say how many cases of positive inmates existed in the jail and the county health department did not readily have the numbers available. According to data from the Ohio Department of Health, Ross County has seen nearly 3,500 COVID cases county-wide with 66 deaths.
The jail has made headlines this year for the death of numerous inmates unrealted to COVID-19.