Photos by Lisa Bicknell
The Estill County jail and the courthouse were shut down following complaints that bed bugs were found inside the jail. Inspections later confirmed the reports. Photo by Lisa Bicknell
By LISA BICKNELL
CV&T News Editor
After inspectors made their rounds around the jail and the courthouse on Monday, July 27, they confirmed that there was a light infestation of bedbugs in both the lower floor of the courthouse and the jail.
The jail had been closed for nearly a week before the presence of the bugs was confirmed.
Estill County Judge-executive Wallace Taylor issued an executive order on Tuesday, July 21, to close the jail until it could be inspected and/or treated.
Taylor said the jail was closed as a precaution after reports of the bugs being in the jail last week.
On Friday, July 24, Taylor also decided to close all the courthouse at 10 a.m. as a precautionary measure, after Judge Michael Dean closed the circuit court clerk’s offices upstairs.
Local television stations had reported that the health department found bed bugs inside the jail last week.
But that was something of a surprise to Estill County Jailer Bo Morris who said all the information he received came from local news reports. He also said reports that the jail had been inspected by the health department prior to making that call were “not true.” He claimed the order to close the jail was made after a complaint to the local health department and state inspectors, and that the call was not made by an inmate.
He said on Monday, July 27, inspectors from the local health department and Termitech did find “a few droppings and a couple of live bugs” in one cell. He said he does not consider that a “big infestation.”
Morris has been “on call” from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day since the order from the courthouse. He said every mat, every blanket, every sheet has been looked at, and he’s seen nothing.
“I don’t want to take them home either,” he said.
Steve Parke, with local extermination company Termitech, was one of those who inspected the building on Monday and said there was not a heavy inspection, but “a few spots here and there.”
Judge Taylor called the inspection “very thorough,” and said “every chair was turned upside down.”
On Monday evening, Termitech was on the site for several hours as they sprayed chemicals and dusted around outlets throughout the entire jail and courthouse.
Taylor said he wanted to aerate the building on Tuesday to protect the public from toxins and that the courthouse would likely re-open on Wednesday.
He said the cost of de-bugging the courthouse was less than he expected at about $2,000.
A second treatment of the building will be made in two weeks, then another inspection will be made in four weeks.
About 15 inmates were moved to Three Forks Regional Jail in Lee County following the closing of the Estill County jail last week, and eleven employees found themselves without a job.
The jailer, as well as a male and a female transport officer, were put on call in case other arrests were made. Arrangements were made for the arresting officer to meet the jail employees outside the jail so they could take inmates to Three Forks.