During this month’s Madison County Judiciary Committee meeting, several department heads reported experiencing difficulties in staffing due to positive Covid-19 cases, exposures and quarantines.
While department heads reported staffing concerns, they said they have been fortunate to work remotely during quarantines. Additionally, mitigation efforts have paid off at the detention home as only one minor has tested positive for Covid-19.
In her first Judiciary Committee meeting as Public Defender on Dec. 8, Mary Copeland reported that some staff members have had to quarantine, but they have been working remotely when possible.
Copeland said she is grateful that Madison County Chief Judge William Mudge continued nonessential court matters “because the defense attorneys are really the ones, when we have public court, we really cannot maintain distances from the general public.”
On Nov. 25, Mudge entered an order continuing all non-essential court matters until Jan. 4 in response to the Covid-19 resurgence in Madison County.
Copeland added that the “unfortunate consequence of that is we are going to be dealing with a pretty big backlog of cases.”
Copeland reported that there are currently 1,989 pending felonies and 374 felony cases that have been filed but have not received preliminary hearings. There are also thousands of pending misdemeanors, she added. Those numbers add up to more than 300 cases per assistant attorney in the Public Defender’s Office.
“To say these numbers are staggering is an understatement,” she said.
Copeland also noted concerns about trouble communicating with clients in the jail due to understandable limited movement and quarantines.
Major Jeff Connor with the Sheriff’s Department reported that their mitigation efforts have helped slow the spread of Covid-19 within the jail.
He explained that they established three zones: red, yellow and green. When inmates were in the red zone, they were quarantined with no contact. Committee chair Mike Walters congratulated the Sheriff's Department for its work in mitigating and coping with Covid-19.