The Wayne State University School of Social Work Center for Behavioral Health and Justice (CBHJ) presented the first Mitigating COVID-19 in County Jails on Friday, December 11th, 2020. Over 130 people attended the kickoff of a series of Community of Practice (CoP) webinars with goals to disseminate a toolkit full of resources and information, share best practices among other champions in this space, and identify additional COVID-19 mitigation strategies and technical assistance needs of local county jails and communities around the country. Attendees represented corrections and law enforcement agencies, behavioral health and medical providers, philanthropic organizations, social service, community agency providers, and public health leadership.

Throughout the webinar, attendees were able to hear about how COVID-19 impacted one of the nation's largest communities and jail systems, Wayne County Jail (Detroit) and hear from the Wayne County and CBHJ teams throughout the presentation. A follow up email from a regional coordinator within a national organization stated "this was hands down one of the best webinars that I have attended since starting my position in May", and that "it was compelling, led by the people doing the work."

The strategies should be implemented to "help mitigate COVID-19, not only in a congregate setting, but in the community" said Mathew Saxton, CEO and Executive Director of the Michigan Sheriff's Association. As COVID-19 continues to impact prisons and jails around the country, each facility's needs differ. Because jails are unique, as they are not long-term congregate living facilities and by default have more interactions between the justice-involved population within the jail, and their external community, there is an increased risk of spreading COVID-19 between these spaces if not addressed. This work will help "establish a community of practice where collective knowledge can continue to grow and be shared to the benefit of the uniquely vulnerable populations that are served and their communities" stated Anna Gonzales, Senior COVID-19 Advisor for the CDC Foundation.

This work will "help establish a community of practice where collective knowledge can continue to grow and be shared to the benefit of the uniquely vulnerable populations that are served and their communities."

-Anna Gonzales, Senior COVID-19 Advisor for the CDC Foundation

Through support from the CDC Foundation, the CBHJ will host monthly CoP webinars on Mitigating COVID-19 in county jails, while sharing information relating to (but not limited to) testing, contact tracing, information sharing, and discharge planning efforts. The monthly Mitigating COVID-19 in County Jails CoP series will be held every 4th Thursday, from 1:00 to 2:00PM EST. Registration and additional information for the webinar being held on Thursday, January 28th, will be shared after the new year.

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About the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice: The Wayne State University School of Social Work Center for Behavioral Health and envisions communities in which research, data, and best practices are used by multiple stakeholders to enhance the optimal well-being of individuals with mental illness and/or substance use disorders who come into contact with the criminal/legal system. Learn more