COVID-19 infection hits record high in California prison

Byrhonda Lyons | Cal Matters

Read this article at Spanish..

Coronavirus cases have exploded in California prisons, reaching 3,861 active cases last week. This is the best ever. However, the state has delayed the early release of prisoners, raising questions about overcrowding as the infection spreads throughout prisons.

During the summer, prisons and prisons released thousands of prisoners through an early release program. The state’s prison population has declined by nearly 20%, reaching its lowest level in 30 years.

However, early releases are now slowly slowing down. Between July 10 and August 9, more than 4,000 prisoners were released. According to court documents. After about 3 months, it was less than 450.

As a result, California’s prison population remains constant as the virus surges. Throughout the system, prisons remain overcrowded. The nine prisons that were hit hardest by COVID-19 At least 120% over capacity..

Aaron Littmann, Deputy Director of the COVID-19 Behind Bar Data Project at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School, said:

Meanwhile, county prisons are facing their own problems. Approximately 7,000 prison inmates sit in county prisons awaiting transfer to state prisons. For months, state orthodontic authorities suspended the transfer and created a backlog.

Approximately 3,000 prisoners were recently transferred from prison to prison, but on Thursday, after an increase in cases of coronavirus, the California Department of Corrective Rehabilitation stopped the transfer again.

“It’s a kind of pressure release valve,” said Lieutenant John Bednar, a spokesman for the Mendoshino County Sheriff’s Office. “We were constantly accumulating.”

Fighting unprocessed portion in county prison

It was 3 am when the prisoners boarded the van and traveled for hours from Mendocino County Prison in Ukiah to the Prison Reception Center in North Kern County.

It used to be a frequent and short trip to San Quentin, but now it’s different. After a coronavirus outbreak in the summer, infecting thousands of prisoners and killing a few, San Quentin is no longer an ingestion center. The pandemic changed the situation: there were more inmates, more guards, COVID-19 tests, and a few days of travel with overtime and daily allowances accordingly.

“We had very small windows,” said Bednar of the county sheriff’s department. Prior to moving, prisoners had to be tested for COVID-19 within 7 days of traveling. “We were able to actually drive (test) to the San Francisco lab and get it back in time.”

Since August, the state has accepted 3,000 transfers at three reception centers: North Kern Prison, Wasco Prison, and Central California Women’s Facility.

Prior to COVID-19, transport aircraft held approximately 2,500 prisoners from prison to prison each month. However, the pandemic quickly stopped things and then slowly caused unstable churn. The state picked up the tab and paid each prisoner $ 93.54 per day to the county.

“We continue to work closely with local law enforcement partners on all intake timings and procedures in a way that protects public health and public safety,” a spokesman for the correction department said in a statement. It was. “We find it difficult for county prisons to stop taking, but that was a necessary step.”

California’s county prison population declined in April. $ 0 bail Performed for misdemeanor and certain low-level felony.But by late June, the state judicial council Reverse course, And some counties, such as Mendoshino, continued on zero bail, while others did not.

“When they set zero bail, we soon saw a significant drop in numbers,” Bednar said. “But over time, even if the bail went to zero, our number continued to grow.”

Inyo County did not pay $ 0 on bail. Since withdrawing it, the county’s prison population has almost doubled. It’s bigger than it was before the pandemic started.

Inyo County prisons are suffering from unprocessed portion as the state postpones the transfer. The prison often acts as a pit stop for prisoners heading to state prisons for violating the rules of the local prison fire department. From time to time, prisons hold one or two people, and the state will pick them up within a few weeks. But this year was different. There was no one or two “courtesy hold” as Lieutenant Jared Sparks called them. There were five.

“That’s a big problem for us,” Sparks said. “We’re a small facility. We have a lot of beds. We usually don’t put state prison inmates in two cells. They aren’t in the general public.”

According to pre-pandemic population estimates, Inyo County can accommodate 96 prisoners. Currently holds 50. However, Sparks said the estimated capacity numbers were unreliable during the pandemic, and having state prisoners makes things more crowded.

“We’re doing a pretty substantive testing and quarantine process here in prison,” Sparks said. “We’re almost always almost full. Basically, to get prisoners in these states here, because of their safety level, it’s removing a fair amount of my housing options. I will. “

And it’s not just the small counties that are struggling.

Monterey County can manage approximately 850 to 900 prisoners in prisons. More than that, and “it just gets harder,” said Jim Bass, the county’s chief correction deputy. “There is less space to social distance. That’s when the temper tends to burn — it only happens occasionally when people are around each other 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

By early November, the prison was full, waiting for about 160 prisoners to be transferred to state prisons. The state then transferred 89 of them.

“There were no transfers for about seven months,” Bass said.

The number of prisoners waiting to be transferred 30 percent of Monterey County Prison The prisoner tested positive for COVD-19 in July. It is unknown whether any of the infected prisoners were state prisoners.

San Joaquin County has a similar problem.

On October 31, the county prison reported a little over 1,500 inmates. This is the largest inmate population since before the pandemic. Of these, 325 were state prisoners awaiting transfer.

“The CDCR’s policy of not accepting transfers from county prisons since March 2020 has had a negative impact on the entire San Joaquin County prison census,” said prison spokesman Jennifer Klein.

Last week, San Joaquin County was transferring prisoners to jail in hopes of moving further this week. However, on Thanksgiving Day, CDCR stopped forwarding.

Cost is also an issue.

“There was one man who was 10 times more expensive a week between hell and dialysis treatment,” said Matthew Kendal, Sheriff of Mendoshino County. “There is a shortage there.”

“They need to release more people.”

Defenders say there is a solution in counties with overcrowded prisons. To release more prisoners.

“Sheriffs have many options at their disposal,” said Lizzie Buchen, director of the ACLU in California’s criminal justice program. “There are ways they can make space in prisons, and they all should do it in a much more important way than they used to be. All California sheriffs can make safe facilities. You can. You need to release more people. “But she added,” I never call a prison a safe facility … certainly not in the era of COVID. “

The county can release more prisoners, but has no authority over state prisoners. That is the job of the state.

Between July 1st and November 11th, 6,598 state prisoners were released from prisons and camps, according to state court documents. Since then, CDCR has most often released people with sentences of 180 days or less and suspended a one-year release program. The state has also not awarded credits for early releases — about 2,100 people have led to early releases during the summer. According to a CDCR estimate.

When asked why CDCR’s attorneys weren’t released much earlier than in the summer, they said, “When more comprehensive COVID-19-related policies still existed, they are optional as an additional safeguard. Early release program has been implemented. ” Under development. “

And since then, they have “adopted additional important safety measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

Proponents say prison inmates at high risk for COVID-19, especially the elderly and those with health problems, should be a priority for early release.

“I think the medical vulnerabilities must be those who can be safely released from prison to the community,” said Donald, a prison law center lawyer who is trying to get the CDCR to release more prisoners.・ Specter said. “And it should be done on a much larger scale than it is currently done.”

Los Angeles County did just that.

Since early April, Los Angeles County prisons have released nearly 13,000 people, significantly reducing their population. “We can accommodate prisoners as long as we need them,” said a Los Angeles County Sheriffs spokesman.

And it may take some time.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, 2,947 prisoners were waiting to be transferred to a Los Angeles County prison. On Thanksgiving Day, the state stopped transfers to all prisons — again.