Brazos County commissioners extend disaster declaration for harmful bacteria at county jail
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – The disaster declaration that was issued due to a legionella outbreak at Brazos County Detention Center has been extended by 30 days.
Brazos County Commissioners met Wednesday afternoon during a special session to make the decision.
Legionella was discovered in the HVAC system of the Brazos County Detention Center which caused inmates in one of the units to be relocated to another part of the facility.
Our concern is the safety of the inmates and the employees here,” said Chief Deputy of Corrections Kevin Stuart. “We just moved them out of the area while the cleaning and testing is being done. We’ll get future recommendations on how to prevent it moving forward.”
Originally the disaster declaration was only issued for seven days.
Brazos County Judge Duane Peters says it was extended by 30 days to give crews plenty of time to clean the facility and take all of the proper safety precautions.
“I don’t want to have to come back again and declare another county judge emergency disaster for seven days then potentially have to do it again. It’s better to just plug 30 days in there and have it finished long before.”
The county is hopeful the legionella bacteria will be out of the detention center before the 30 days are up.
