3 weeks after lockdown, Scott County Jail reopening

SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – After going through a lockdown for three weeks in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the Scott County Detention Center has reopened.

In a message posted on the agency’s Facebook page, Jail Superintendent Derran Broyles said much thought went into the decision.

“Last week, I made the decision to open our jail back up to ‘normal’ operations. I decided to open back up for several reasons:  our health department advised our positive cases (both inmates and staff) could continue to test positive for up to two months; the burden to our sheriffs office and police departments in having to transport arrestees to Bourbon County and Woodford County jails, as well as the increased risk to our community that these transports to other jails creates by slowing those officers down from getting back on the streets to keep us all safe; the financial burden to our county by having to house our arrestees in other counties; and the fact that after three weeks of our jail being locked down, we were continuing to have new positive inmate cases,” Broyles said.

“None of our positive case inmates have experienced any serious medical complications from having the virus. They just have it and are for the most part are asymptomatic. We have the virus at the jail. And although our inmate numbers are down, we still can’t seem to contain it completely.

“Therefore, I decided to resume operations. We will continue to operate with the safety of all persons in our facility being our primary goal. Thanks to our community, sheriff’s office,police departments, judges and my fellow Jailers in Bourbon and Woodford counties for all of your patience and assistance during this time,” Broyles concluded.