Case Study Mar 1, 2024
R-Zero protects Caldwell County Detention Center inmates and staff
About Caldwell County Detention Center
Caldwell County Detention Center is an 185-inmate pretrial facility about an hour from Raleigh, North Carolina, run by Captain Thomas Bailey.
First experience with R-Zero in the Sheriff’s office evidence room
Covid hit Caldwell County Sheriff's Office staffing hard; due to the shortages, Captain Bailey moved from the jail to the Sheriff’s Office, where he learned about two R-Zero Arcs that had just arrived and started testing them out.
His first test was in the evidence room, which had a lot of marijuana and a strong odor. "It stunk pretty bad. I ran a cycle on the Arc, and when I came back, the smell was gone."
UV-C disinfection cut staff illness and absenteeism
Confident that Arc was cleaning the air, Captain Bailey brought the Arc into the detention center and started running it through the rooms and cell blocks.
He found that R-Zero products reassured detention center staff that their personal infection risk was reduced. "Covid was a crutch for a lot of staff to say, ‘I can't work.’" But with R-Zero products, "We started seeing the number of officers with Covid going down, and it just kept going down and down, preventing that excuse."
How Caldwell County Corrections uses Arc
"Our night shift runs about 20 Arc cycles a night, when there is less in-and-out traffic. We run them in the inmate day rooms — which include areas with telephones, visitation kiosks, and toilets— and in our medical hallways, booking area, inmate property room, and kitchen."
"Before we added Beams to our cell blocks, we had 25 inmates with Covid. Since we installed them, we haven't had a single case. Beam works."
Expanding to continuous disinfection
Recognizing the value of UV-C, Captain Bailey wanted to add continuous air disinfection to day rooms in the cell blocks, where inmates socialize in areas with limited ventilation. Caldwell County installed 12 R-Zero Beam upper-room UV-C lights in fall 2022. "Before we added Beams to our cell blocks, we had 25 inmates with Covid. Since we installed them, we haven't had a single case. Beam works. We also used to have MRSA cases from time to time, but we haven't seen any cases since starting to use R-Zero."
In addition to cutting illness, UV-C disinfection also "took care of the odor problems we had in cell blocks and common areas."
What's next?
"We want to add Beam to break rooms, the medical room, my office, the lieutenant's office, the transport sergeant's office, and the secure vehicle salley port (garage)."