The Manatee County Jail is a very impressive operation. They grown much of their own food, they make uniforms for inmates and the Sheriff's department staff, they even make mattresses. All to help help tax payers save money, while also keeping us safe at the same time.
Sheriff Rick Wells and his team are now using the jail facility to help... turning their attention to helping where they can during this pandemic with resources they already have in use. .
Inmates and jail staff are using materials typically used to produce bedding to make masks for first repsonders, grocery store workers and others on the front line of this virus.
The Sheriff and his staff staff looked at the material they had in their uniform production shop and decided to make masks for first responders and other workers, in need of the protective equipment.
The Manatee County jail is already producing 100 protective masks a day. They also are using materials used for embroidery to ensure the masks are appropriately filtered.
The Sheriff's team researched how to make medical-grade masks and already several hundred have been donated to first responders, as well as those working in retail. .
The first box of 100 masks were delivered on Wednesday of this week to several locations within Manatee County..