Hello to all who serve and protect behind the walls!
I am Stefanie Bush, a Captain with the Scott County Jail in Iowa. When I ask this question, my hope is some of you may have a solution or suggestion. I can only assume many of you are like we are in holding inmates for over two to three years due to the pandemic and the courts being backed up. Along with that, we have many inmates who are waiting on a 812 (a psychiatric evaluation to see if the defendant is suffering a mental disorder which prevents the defenant from understanding the proceedings or assisting in the defense). The wait list for these to be done are extremely long for the state of Iowa since they are done at one prison. As you can all understand, this means we are holding some of our most mentally ill inmates for a long time. With that comes defacating and urinating all over.
We have a four bed sub dayroom in which we house inmates who urinate anywhere but the toilet and spread or throw feces who I would deem mentally ill. We use a kaivac machine to clean the sub dayroom and individual cells. At this time, it appears that the smell of urine is permanent and a sticky residue remains on the concrete floor. This is bothersome not only to the staff working 12 to 16 hour shifts due to low staffing but also to the inmates above them and or around the area as the smell seems to go through the vents. Does anyone have a solution of how to get rid of the smell? We are thinking of ordering an air purifier but we cannot put it in the sub dayroom. I am looking for a special cleaning agent or other solutions some of you have done as I cannot believe we are the only jail facing this. Any input would be greatly appreciated.