Bartholomew County Jail.jpeg
WDRB Google Preferred Source Asset

See more WDRB reporting in Google Search

Add WDRB as a preferred source on Google to ensure that local news and weather from WDRB appears more often in Top Stories when relevant to your search.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nearly half of the inmates at an Indiana jail have tested positive for COVID-19.

The Bartholomew County Jail is currently on lockdown after 91 of its 211 inmates have tested positive for the respiratory disease.

The lockdown comes after Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers called in the state to test the entire facility. Positive and negative inmates are now separated, according to the sheriff. 

But families are calling the jail and asking for loved ones to be let out early.

While inmates who aren't a threat and have less than 30 days to serve could be released early, Myers said the call is up to the courts.

"I think people think that, if you have a COVID outbreak in the jail, people automatically are going to be released," he said. "That's just not going to happen."

Incoming inmates are being screened for symptoms. 

Myers expects the lockdown and separations to last for the next month.

Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.