LYNWOOD, Calif. – With prisons across the country particularly hard hit by the coronavirus, the Century Regional Detention Center for Women in Lynwood has gone to great lengths to try and minimize potential outbreaks of the virus within its walls.
As the only women's jail in Los Angeles County and the largest women's facility of its kind in the nation, Century Regional has the capacity to house more than 2,000 inmates. Today, however, the facility is home to just over 1,200 inmates, after reducing its population by 30 percent in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Spectrum News 1 anchor, Giselle Fernandez had the opportunity to go behind bars at Century Regional for a tour of the facility. There she spoke extensively with Captain Angela Walton.
Walton, who calls herself the “chick in charge,” is on a mission to keep the facility as virus-free as possible. She spoke to Giselle about the exhaustive efforts the prison has undertaken to contain the virus.
“It has taken a village. When I say a village, I mean it is, everyone has their finger on the pulse from the inmates to the deputies, to the cooks, to the facility workers, to the sergeants, to the lieutenants, the commander, the chief,” Walton said. “Everyone who steps in this building has had something to do and to help us make sure that we carry out to keep the virus out of here."
Walton shared with Giselle some of the innovative protocols the prison has put in place to reduce the spread of the virus; protocols that in addition to canceling many prison programs, include limiting visitations.
"So in the hallway as you -- we have tape and so they're six feet apart as well as we have the sergeants taking the temperatures of everyone that comes in," Walton said. "The temperature gauge will turn red if someone has a temperature. If they do, then we do not allow them in the facility."
Even as new inmates are admitted to the facility, added precautions are taken.
“We monitor them for 14 days and if they don't have any of the symptoms after 14 days and then at that time they can go to the other modules,” Walton said.
Walton feels strongly that it’s the prison staff’s duty to try and protect the inmates from the virus.
“If someone's going to get it, it's by one of us because we're coming and going, not them,” she said.
Although many of the inmates are incarcerated for serious crimes – including murder – Walton feels an obligation toward all of them that extends beyond the coronavirus pandemic.
“And so when I talk about chicks in charge, I, you know, jokingly say that I also have a quote that I absolutely love and it really is still fitting for here. Madeline Albright said it best, ‘There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women,’” Walton said. “So, even though the women are inmates, that doesn't mean that we still can't help them be better. And I feel that that's my job. That's my duty.”
As prisons across the country struggle to contend with the pandemic, Walton offered some words of advice for other prison facilities.
“I think if you really want to attack this, everyone has to come to the table and everyone has to pitch in and say, ‘how do we get this fixed?’” Walton said. “That's what the message is. How do we get this fixed, and how do we move forward? And every day I come here, I walk through the doors and I'm like, ‘How do I keep that COVID-19 out of my facility?’ And that's what, that's my mission every day. “