{"id":44264,"date":"2021-10-13T00:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T06:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/covid-19-outbreak-reported-at-montezuma-county-jail-intake-of-inmates-limited\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:18:34","slug":"covid-19-outbreak-reported-at-montezuma-county-jail-intake-of-inmates-limited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/covid-19-outbreak-reported-at-montezuma-county-jail-intake-of-inmates-limited\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 outbreak reported at Montezuma County jail; intake of inmates limited"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office is applying for Jail-Based Behavioral Health Services funding from the Colorado Department of Human Services. The funding could help pay for medication or clinical staff at the Montezuma County Detention Center to better serve individuals with mental health issues.<\/span>Sean Dolan\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

An outbreak last week of about a dozen COVID-19 cases at the Montezuma County Detention Center led Sheriff Steve Nowlin to take action to limit the intake of new inmates, The Journal <\/em> has learned.<\/p>\n

Thirteen inmates have tested positive for the virus at the jail, Nowlin said Tuesday. Last week, Nowlin cited a \u201clocal spike\u201d in viral transmission when he issued an order to limit the intake of inmates.<\/p>\n

He said the jail would accept only those arrested on suspicion of Class 1 through Class 3 felonies, sexual assault, and mandatory domestic violence arrests and\/or protection order violations. All others should be issued a summons.<\/p>\n

The order would expire Nov. 7, unless extended.<\/p>\n

The infected inmates have been isolated and are recovering, Nowlin said. None required hospitalization. The group is a mix of men and women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are being watched closely. We had no positives in the jail for a year and a half during the pandemic, but with so much pressure to open everything back up, this is the result,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The detention center is working with the Montezuma County Health Department on the matter. Inmates are being tested for the virus on a volunteer basis and offered the vaccine if they want it.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Nowlin said, he was informed by a detention center nurse that it appeared COVID was circulating among inmates. Volunteer testing confirmed it.<\/p>\n

To control the spread and to protect inmates and staff, Nowlin said he immediately issued an order that restricts which suspects are admitted into the jail. Law enforcement officers were directed to limit arrests in certain cases, and issue summonses instead.<\/p>\n

If a suspect tests positive for the listed crimes, detention center deputies will be notified via telephone so that arrangements could be made for isolation.<\/p>\n

Nowlin said he has discretion on implementing the order, and there are nuances as well. For example, if a subject is contacted for a failure to appear warrant, instead of arrest, the person could be sent to court instead of jail, get a new court date and have the warrant nullified.<\/p>\n

In a Sept. 7 letter, 22nd Judicial Attorney Matt Margeson objected to the sheriff\u2019s order, arguing it conflicts with Colorado law and was done without consultation with the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The statute \u201cdescribes exceptionally limited circumstances under which law enforcement is authorized to use a felony summons in lieu of arrest,\u201d Margeson said.<\/p>\n

He said, according to the statute, a felony summons can only be used for Class 5 and Class 6 nonviolent felonies, and Nowlin\u2019s order includes Class 4 felonies for summons.<\/p>\n

Margeson added that felony summons also cannot be used for victim rights act crimes, for any \u201cunclassified felony\u201d punishable by a maximum penalty of more than 10 years in prison, for defendants with outstanding warrants, or for defendants who have used a deadly weapon in a crime, among other reasons.<\/p>\n

In an interview Tuesday, Nowlin said that in response to the resurgence of COVID-19 infections, he must protect his department, and he has limited space to isolate inmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m responsible for my deputies, inmates and jail staff,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a short-term thing. I\u2019d rather do this then end up having to shut down\u201d because of a more severe outbreak.<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Will Furse believes Nowlin\u2019s temporary arrest waiver presents a risk to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, someone could shoot someone and cause injury \u2013 a Class 4 felony \u2013 and be among the criminals Nowlin refuses to accept at the jail, even though the law requires it,\u201d Furse said. \u201cCOVID-19, while certainly a threat to the community, is not an excuse to violate the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margeson requested that Nowlin modify his order to comply with state statute, but Nowlin said he declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it goes in the right direction, we will lift it,\u201d Nowlin said, \u201cand will continue to isolate new arrestees.\u201d<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

critical of order waiving arrests in favor of summons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,168,28,60,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86025,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44264\/revisions\/86025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44264"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}