Coronavirus: Inmates quarantined at Santa Clara County jail after defense attorney tests positive

Two Santa Clara County jail inmates are in quarantine at the Elmwood men’s jail after they were visited by a defense attorney who later tested positive for coronavirus, multiple sources confirmed to this news organization.

Sheriff Laurie Smith announced the medical isolation of the inmates at a Friday news conference, and that their COVID-19 exposure was from “someone who came into the jail to interview inmates,” but she declined to specify who that person was.

Several sources familiar with the incident confirm that the infected person is an attorney with the county Public Defender’s Office. Multiple attempts to reach the office for comment were unsuccessful Friday.

Smith said the quarantine is a precaution, and not because the two inmates showed signs of illness at the medium-security jail in Milpitas.

“We know they were exposed, but absolutely no symptoms so far,” Smith said.

A relative of an inmate who shared the same dormitory as the two exposed men said others who were in contact with them are being quarantined as well. The relative, whose name is being withheld for privacy and safety reasons, relayed their loved one’s account describing how jail deputies earlier this week removed the two affected inmates and came back to gather their belongings.

Smith said earlier this week that jail deputies and staff have instituted a series of measures to decrease close contact between people at the county jail facilities. That includes moving away from in-person visits to those behind a window barrier, and increasing video interviews between defendants and their attorneys to keep them from having to come into the jail. Similar plans are being implemented or explored elsewhere in the Bay Area.

The county jails are also moving away from in-person visits in favor of those behind a window barrier, and is increasing video interviews between defendants and their attorneys to keep them from having to come into the jail.

Programming at the jail has also been curtailed, “other than the very essential services” such as mental-health treatment, Smith said Friday.

The inmate’s relative who spoke to this news organization voiced concerned about that development, saying not having access to educational and rehabilitative program could affect many inmates’ compliance with the court-ordered conditions of their jail terms.

The sheriff has also urged judges to delay reporting dates for low-level jail sentences, and said she wants to see probation officers “limit the number of probation violations” they cite, to help decrease the jail population and allow officials to create safe distances between people and quarantine space.

On Friday, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office announced that it was suspending all jail visits starting 5 p.m. Friday, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

One South Bay civil-rights group is calling for even more drastic measures. Silicon Valley De-Bug, for whom inmate advocacy is one of their primary missions, issued a letter Friday to Smith and the Board of Supervisors to come up with a plan for releasing jail inmates and issuing a moratorium on new bookings and jail sentences.

“The county jails are institutional opposites of what the public is told to do so slowdown the spread — and is essentially a combustible crisis waiting to happen,” the letter states. “Medical experts say that it is not a question of if, but when, the virus will enter jails and prisons.”

The letter continued: “Lockdowns, or stopping visits, are not an acceptable, nor purposeful, response. Keeping detainees in prolonged isolation or lockdown will increase the likelihood of mental health difficulties, a problem that already overwhelms the jails.”

Check back later for updates to this story.

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