A plea to get people out of crowded, confined jails if at all possible was met with "We’re on it" by the judges in the Augusta Judicial Circuit.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issuing guidelines for prisons and jail Monday during the coronavirus outbreak, advocate groups such as the Bail Project have called on judges to do whatever possible to get people out of jail.

Because of the closed environment, the potential for rapid spread of the disease inside a jail or prison is serious, the CDC warned. It will also be difficult to contain because there are barriers to what needs to be done — isolation, social distancing and cleaning, the CDC advised.

Bail Project staff attorney Katherine Robinson wrote to all local judges, saying that it "is time for decisive, bold action." The Bail Project is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to paying bond for people in need. Staff have been working in the Augusta Judicial Circuit since November.

Robinson asked the judges to consider releasing:

– All people who already have bond set for low-level offenses

– All people jailed for missing court dates

– All people held on allegations of parole and probation violations

– All elderly people and those with medical conditions that put them especially at risk

There are 198 people arrested in the past 30 days in the Richmond County Jail. Of those, 63 cannot afford to post bond or have probation or parole violation warrants, and 80 more are jailed on bench warrants or court orders for allegedly failing to appear for court or disobeying court orders.

Of the 969 people in the Charles B. Webster Detention Center on Tuesday, 29 were age 60 or older. While some are accused of committing serious violent crimes, others are accused of relatively minor crimes, such as Ida Searles, 60, who is charged with drug possession and shoplifting while on probation, and Michael Gilland, 69, who is being held on a probation violation warrant for not reporting to his probation officer, a technical violation.

Last week, Judge Sheryl B. Jolly told probation officers to spread the word: She wanted to address all of her assigned cases in which the accused faced only technical violations.

Superior Court Chief Judge Carl C. Brown Jr. said Tuesday that the judges have received the Bail Project’s letter. They are already taking action to do what’s possible to release people from jail and help keep those who cannot be released safe.

They also have a duty to follow the emergency order to restrict court proceedings to emergency situations.

"We’re leaning and trying to be accommodating and creative in addressing this situation … in a trying set of circumstances," Brown said.

Most important is to keep open communication with those who run the jail and the professionals in the court system, Brown said. The judges are open to requests concerning the cases assigned to each, he said.

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