FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Concern for infected inmates and those who work closely with them is rising after three inmates tested positive in Broward County jails.

One who contracted the virus is rapper Y.N.W. Melly, who has been accused of murder and is now requesting restricted release for treatment.

Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said, “We now have three inmates that have tested positive for COVID-19. That’s across several of our different jails, so it’s not all isolated in one area.”

Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes said, “It’s a huge problem. We are presently in a race, a race against time.”

The close proximity of inmates within a jail is leading to difficulties in implementing social distancing.

“There is not enough room within a jail for social distancing. The staff members that now have to be isolated because they have possibly been exposed, will require a deduction of staffers within the jail,” he said.

Tony said, “We already backtracked and analyzed all of our employees who had contact with each and every one of those inmates, and so now they’re going to be in self isolation.”

Because of the new cases, inmates cannot be taken to court to appear before a judge.

Judge Corey Amanda Canthion said, “A bit of an unusual first time here in magistrate court.”

Judges are resorting to video conferencing, which still requires movement of inmates.

“We have to take prudent, yet swift measures to make sure that non-violent offenders, and those folks with a short period of time remaining on their sentence are released from the jail on some sort of electronic monitor, or some other form of pre-trial release,” Weekes said.

Many more cases are still possible, but Weekes said preventing cases from rising in jails is imperative.

One positive case was reported at the North Broward jail, after the inmate was registered there in March with no symptoms.

Anyone who may have been in contact with the inmate will be tested.

“We cannot allow this to become an exponential explosion of growth within the jail, but the clock has really caught up to us now that we have a positive within the jail,” he said.

Copyright 2020 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.