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Judge orders OC sheriff to cut jail population in half to combat coronavirus outbreak
An Orange County Superior Court judge on Friday ordered Sheriff Don Barnes to reduce by half the population at county jails because of concerns over COVID-19.
The order by Judge Peter Wilson was sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit accusing Barnes of not taking enough precautions to shield medically vulnerable inmates.
“This victory belongs to the incarcerated people who had the courage to speak out about Sheriff Barnes’ failed response to COVID-19,” said Daisy Ramirez, jails conditions and policy coordinator at the ACLU of Southern California. “Their resistance and leadership will save lives, as Orange County hospitals are currently nearing capacity.
“The court’s decision to alleviate the pressure on the jail by depopulating will help prevent the medical infrastructure — in the jail and in the surrounding community — from becoming totally overwhelmed.”
Order could endanger public
Barnes responded that the order could endanger the public by putting dangerous inmates on the streets.
“We are evaluating the order, its impacts and our options for appeal,” he said in a prepared statement. “If the order stands, it will result in the release of more than 1,800 inmates. Many of these inmates are in pre-trial status for, or have been convicted of, violent crimes and will be released back into the community.”
The order comes a day after the Sheriff’s Department announced a resurgence of coronavirus in the jails, with 102 inmates testing positive after hitting a low of nine in October. On Friday, the numbers had jumped to 27 from new bookings and 111 from general population, totaling 138.
In total, 691 Orange County inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 since the first positive inmate was reported on March 24. Of those, only two inmates have been hospitalized for COVID-19 and none has died.
In a statement, the ACLU said that last week, county lawyers told the judge that such an outbreak would be impossible at the jail, calling it safer than anywhere else in Orange County, where COVID-19 cases have been surging along with the rest of California since last month.
The jails have a capacity of 6,159, but the population now sits at 3,628 after precautions taken by Barnes.
A statement by the ACLU likened Wilson’s ruling to a similar appellate court order in October that required San Quentin State Prison to cut its population in half.
Plan ordered by Dec. 31
The sheriff was ordered to file a plan with the court no later than Dec. 31, detailing how the reduction has been achieved and how the county will continue to keep the population at a lower density to reduce the dangers of an outbreak. The court also ordered the jail to continue to take all necessary measures to ensure social distancing “until the current COVID-19 emergency is declared terminated.”
“This order will save lives,” said Cassandra Stubbs, director of the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project. “We have seen again and again in this suit and in similar litigation around the country, corrections officials have not taken the necessary steps to protect incarcerated people from the spread of COVID-19, nor have they been honest about the circumstances and risk levels in their facilities.”
Stubbs continued, “Public health experts and epidemiological studies have been clear: This country won’t be able to get the pandemic under control unless we’re able to get it under control in prisons and jails. Orange County has one of the largest jail systems in the United States, and today’s order is an example about what needs to be done to save lives.”