News and Investigations

Based on CDC social distancing recommendations related to the COVID-19 coronavirus, beginning Tuesday, March 17, 2020, access to inmate video visitation stations for the general public at the Central County Jail and South County Jail will be suspended for an undetermined amount of time. We will continue to monitor CDC recommendations going forward.

Jail visitation for Polk County inmates currently includes non-contact video visitation where the general public can get access to video visitation kiosks at each jail to visit with inmates, remote video visitation, phone calls, and electronic text messaging—this non-contact visitation has been the policy at Polk County Jails for several years. There is no risk for visitor/inmate contact. However, the video visitation stations at each jail are all in a single area which results in many members of the public accessing the system in relatively close proximity—this is the reason for the suspension of the use of those kiosks.

Members of the public will still have remote video visitation access as they do now (from virtually any on-line connection), along with telephone and texting access.

Working with our technology partners Securus Technologies and Smart Communications, we are planning to provide some level of free visitation access for video, phone and text during the time in-person video visitation is suspended. We are working out the details of a plan, but we are planning to include two 15 minute free phone calls, one 20 minute free remote video visitation, and two free text messages per week. Our plan is to have a program in place by the end of this week. When those details have been established and set, we will notify the public.

“We want to provide the healthiest possible environment for our agency members working in our jails by following common sense CDC recommendations to limit exposure to and the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We also want to keep those wishing to visit inmates, and those with whom they come into contact, as safe as possible. In addition, we want to maintain rigorous screening, health, and safety protocols that will keep our inmate population as healthy as possible. With these precautions in mind, we still want to make sure that friends and family members of inmates in our custody still have a chance to safely visit. We are working hard to make sure inmates can get several free opportunities for a visit each week.” –Grady Judd, Sheriff