Seneca County Jail passes federal inspection with “flying colors” following improvements
Seneca County Jail passes federal inspection with “flying colors” following improvements
[Tiffin, OH – January 15, 2021] – Seneca County Sheriff Fred Stevens thanked staff members at the Seneca County Jail Friday morning after their hard work led to a successful federal inspection of the facility.
“I am beyond ecstatic for how the jail team was able to pull off a successful inspection by coming together over the last week to correct deficiencies that were noted in the previous inspection,” he said.
On Monday-Wednesday this week, the jail underwent diligent inspections. Stevens said this federal inspection was very important, as the October 2019 version included 41 stated areas of concern.
Stevens gave credit to Captain Ron Green, the jail administrator, for remedying these issues.
“(Green) put his staff into overdrive over the last week, to go over everything and to make sure we were prepared,” he said.
Stevens said Green’s previous experience being in charge of the jail helped him hit the ground running this month.
“That experience paid off in spades,” Stevens said. “He worked long hours with the staff and we passed with flying colors … so much so, that the exit interview took just 10 minutes. The inspectors said it was the shortest exit interview they have ever done.”
The inspection/audit, which was conducted by the Nakamoto Group, included five inspectors who are contracted through ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The inspectors evaluated every aspect of jail operations as it pertains to the ICE program.
The lead inspector told Green Wednesday that there were no serious concerns regarding the facility.
“There were four minor concerns noted,” he said. “Those concerns were related to paperwork and were immediately corrected.”
Green said the inspectors will continue analyzing policy and procedure documents which were uploaded for review, and a formal written report is expected to be released in 4-6 weeks.
Stevens and Green singled out several members of the staff for making it a successful federal inspection. They thanked Lt. Joseph Panuto, Sgt. Ryan Monahan, Sgt. Rian Myers, Officer Laurie Thompson, RN Sherri Mullins, Officer Heidi Stanford, Officer Charles Dell and Deputy Kevin Scherley for their hard work and dedication to their jobs.
Stevens, who began his term as sheriff earlier this month, said he was proud of the whole team.
“Our new core values laid out to the whole staff during our kickoff meeting on January 4th were on full display,” he said. Those values are F.I.R.S.T, which stands for Fairness, Integrity, Respect, Service and Teamwork.
Seneca County Commissioner Anthony Paradiso commended Stevens, Green and the entire staff at the sheriff’s office for this accomplishment.
“It’s great to see the improvements at the Seneca County Jail,” he said. “The commissioners are supportive of the sheriff and his team. It’s exciting to see them get off to a fast start and we look forward to more positive developments from the sheriff’s office.”