KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.
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The Johnson County Sheriff's Office has introduced a new phone line that allows families to provide non-urgent medical information directly to medical staff caring for inmates.
“It gives families and loved ones of inmates [the ability] to ask questions, provide information,” said Lt. Paul Nonnast, of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. “In [the] past, calls were made into our detention deputies and then relayed to medical; this gives people a straight line to medical services.”
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office has more than 500 inmates in custody each month, on average.
Nonnast said they receive three calls a day on the medical hotline.
“Like allergies or medication that they are taking, or any number of concerns they have, they want to ensure they are delivered to medical staff,” he said.
The calls go directly to medical staff, not deputies. Medical staff will not call people back, but it’s a chance for people to relay information.
"They (inmates) may or may not be in a condition to relay that information effectively, [so] it gives us one more way to provide better medical services to the individuals in our care," Nonnast said. "We just want to give them a way to express concerns.
"We realize everyone that’s under our care in the jail has a family, has loved ones that’s looking out for them, has concerns for them. And we understand that. We just want to give them a way to feel more at ease, a way to call in and relay information that is pertinent to the person calling as well as the inmate in our care."
Families can call 913-715-5770 to leave a detailed message about the inmate they’re checking on. For urgent matters, families should contact the sheriff’s office directly using the main jail phone number.
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