Locked Up in a Pandemic: People in County Jails Worry Conditions Will Allow Virus to Spread

Johnny Page has Type 2 diabetes, but for the last week or so, he’s refused his insulin. He says his head hurts and his vision is blurred; without his shots, his health will worsen.

But to get them, Page, an inmate at Santa Clara County’s Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, would have to enter a common area and mingle with guards and inmates outside of his normal cohort — putting him at increased risk of contracting the coronavirus. He said he requested his shots be delivered to his bunk. He hasn’t heard back.

“I feel like I’m put in a Catch-22 situation,” said the 41 year old, who said he is awaiting sentencing for drug possession and distribution charges. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”

As the coronavirus spreads across California, its effects are rippling through the criminal justice system. Courts have postponed trials and other proceedings. The governor has suspended new intakes into state prisons. The state’s Judicial Council extended deadlines for early court appearances and trials on Saturday.

All of these changes are affecting the number of people held in county jails and the conditions they’re experiencing.

Some counties have released hundreds of people from jails early to reduce inmate populations. As of Monday, Santa Clara County has reduced its jail population by more than 600, according to the District Attorney's Office. Sacramento has released around 540 inmates, according to Sacramento County Sheriff's spokesperson Teresa Deterding.

Despite these reductions, people living in jails in Santa Clara and Sacramento counties say that conditions do not meet standards of cleanliness and social distancing recommended by medical professionals.

“It’s just caused an overall panic, a justified panic,” said Raj Jayadev, co-founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug, a San Jose-based advocacy organization involved in criminal justice issues. “You couldn’t design [a building] that could more efficiently spread the coronavirus than a county jail.”

Deandre Davis, a 36 year old on the men’s side of Sacramento County Main Jail, said his biggest concern is that the justice system has come to a near halt for many inmates. Proceedings for his own case, which involves a felony murder charge, have stalled until at least May, according to court records.

“It sucks,” he said. “There’s no jury to call to trial. No witnesses. I don’t see an end in sight. As [coronavirus] gets worse, the plan for us gets worse.” He’s also concerned about conditions and his exposure to the virus.

Sacramento County's Sgt. Deterding said in an emailed statement that inmates are provided with “cleaning supplies on a regular basis and at their request" and are given unlimited access to television news coverage of COVID-19. Common areas are cleaned regularly, along with phones, tables, door handles and other commonly used surface areas, Deterding wrote.

At Santa Clara County’s Elmwood jail, Page echoed concerns over stalled proceedings. While some inmates have been released early, many are not currently eligible. And while they wait, they must wait in conditions that Page says are ripe for contracting the virus.

He estimates that the bunks in his dorm are spaced only 2 or 3 feet apart — not nearly enough to maintain the 6-foot spacing recommended by most health professionals as the minimum for social distancing. He said he and 68 other inmates eat their meals in a common area, sharing just six benches.

Sgt. Michael Low, spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email that corrections officers have been “implementing social distancing within the jails, conducting frequent temperature checks and having smaller groups of inmates out of their cells at a time.” They have also suspended all in-person visitation and jail programs, issued masks and other protective equipment to jail staff and established video arraignments to minimize transporting inmates to court.

People in both Santa Clara and Sacramento county jails said access to commissary — where inmates can buy food and other supplies — has been limited. Page said this has been an issue because he and other inmates aren’t fed from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., and they don’t always have adequate amounts of food and sanitary supplies.

The coronavirus has already started infiltrating Elmwood jail. Last week, an inmate tested positive for COVID-19; he has been kept in quarantine since his arrest, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Six Santa Clara County deputies have confirmed cases of the coronavirus. And earlier this month, four inmates were quarantined after coming into contact with a defense attorney who later tested positive.

To Page’s knowledge, nobody in the general jail population has contracted the virus. But he says it’s only a matter of time.

“When the virus does eventually hit in here, it’s gonna spread like a wildfire,” Page said.