Two Palm Beach County jail deputies have tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions about the potential spread of respiratory illness among inmates, many of whom are there because they lack the money to pay their bail.

*

TO OUR READERS: This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Palm Beach Post. If you want breaking coronavirus news directly in your inbox, sign up for our Coronavirus Newsletter.

*

WEST PALM BEACH — After two Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputies tested positive for COVID-19 this week, and dozens more deputies were sent home to self-quarantine, an issue lawyers and others have been concerned with came to the forefront: What happens when the coronavirus gets into the jails?

Public Defender Carey Haughwout said she’s extremely frustrated. Not only does her office represent a majority of those held in the two county jails, but she also said the only reason most of nonviolent, misdemeanor offenders are even there is because they cannot afford to get out.

"There doesn’t seem to be an appreciation that poor people are in danger solely because they don’t have money," she said by telephone this week.

>>Broward, Miami-Dade counties urge residents to shelter-in-place

While other jails and sheriff’s departments across the state and the country have started releasing those accused of lower-level, nonviolent crimes to reduce potential spreads, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has said repeatedly he will not be following their lead.

"The answer is unequivocally no. I am not releasing anyone from the jail. They're in there for a reason, and they're going to stay there," Bradshaw said at a news conference last week.

Ultimately, if there is an outbreak, the inmates will not be treated in the jail. Instead, they will be taken to hospitals because the jail does not have the ability to treat them, the sheriff’s office said.

The jail

As of Friday, there were a total of 1,621 inmates in both the main jail at the Gun Club facility just south of Palm Beach International Airport and the west detention center in Belle Glade. The majority, 1,082, reside at the main center. The capacity of both jails combined is 3,166.

In a town-hall call Friday, Bradshaw said that as far as his office knows, there are no inmates who have tested positive for coronavirus.

"There’s no reason to release any prisoners, whatsoever. None of them are affected and I’m not overpopulated (in the jail)," he said.

Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said there is at least one person who was placed in isolation in a single-person cell after exhibiting symptoms, but there had been no positive tests as of Friday. Additionally, she said, no inmates have been taken to outside hospitals for treatment.

>>Third PBSO deputy tests positive; nine Gardens firefighters cleared for duty

Authorities have stressed the need for social distancing, or keeping 6 feet between people, to stop the spread of the virus, but that kind of spacing can be difficult to achieve in jails, some lawyers said.

Shalini Agarwal, the senior supervising attorney for criminal justice reform in Florida with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the concept "doesn’t work in jail. I think even in the risk to the jail’s own staff."

Two corrections deputies, one who worked at the main jail and another at the western facility, tested positive for the virus this past week, causing 40 other deputies go into quarantine. All but one of those quarantined have been cleared to go back to work, Barbera said Friday.

Bradshaw said in Friday’s call that the public defender’s office and the state attorney’s office are working on some bond issues, which he thinks is fine. But he won’t be releasing anyone.

The bond

Haughwout said her office is trying to get lower bond amounts for those with lesser, nonviolent offenses. But because most of her clients live in poverty, coming up with a few hundred dollars can be impossible. And now families who may have bailed them out before may have lost their jobs or become ill due to coronavirus.

She said it's "extremely frustrating" that some people will end up getting sick simply because they don't have the money to get out.

"The thing I say is: Those who can pay their bond are no less dangerous because they have $1,000," she said.

>>PBC courts will open Fridays on limited basis

Agarwal said "the nightmare scenario is you have someone in (jail) who can’t afford bail and is exposed to the virus, and that’s an unacceptable risk."

Other defense lawyers had made the same requests this month in Palm Beach County, trying to get lower bonds for their clients who were at greater risk to catch the disease or who simply couldn’t put up the funds.

Jacqueline Azis, a staff attorney with American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said "the concern is keeping people unnecessarily in jail who don’t need to be there."

"If they’re not released, then it could be a fatal error by the criminal justice system," she said.

Hillsborough County’s chief judge and sheriff were able to agree to release some of those accused of lower-level offenses in order to free up space.

Agarwal said there’s an "impulse to say that if they’ve done something, they deserve to be there," not considering circumstances or what it could mean in the long run if there was an outbreak in the jail, such as inmates being moved to hospitals outside.

"It’s not appreciating how interconnected to those facilities everyone is."

The potential spread

As more tests are available, the number of confirmed cases continues to grow each day in Palm Beach County and the potential for spread rises.

Bradshaw assured the community last week that anyone who enters the jail is given a health screening before entering

"No one comes in there if they, the slightest bit, look infected," he said.

But Azis said people in jail cannot adhere to the same medical recommendations to prevent infection, between staff and visitors constantly going in and out and the fact that some of those who are infected have no visible symptoms.

"It is wholly irresponsible for sheriffs to think that people in the jail are able to socially distance themselves like the rest of us are doing," she said. "There is no way possible that jails have the space and ability to socially distance when they are sleeping, eating, breathing with each other at close proximity daily."

>>Coronavirus Palm Beach County: What can stay open?

Barbera said they were taking precautions but did not go into details, so it was unclear how inmates are spread through the jails. In the Palm Beach County Jail, the largest cell holds 64 inmates. The Centers for Disease Control recommended groups of no more than 10 people gather to avoid spread as well as to keep a distance of 6 feet between people.

As far as visitors, Barbera said those are done virtually at this time.

Haughwout said she doesn't think the jails can address the safety concerns for the inmates housed there based on space and individuals with preexisting conditions or age.

She said in addition to people living in poverty having greater health demands because of inadequate healthcare, they also have additional anxieties about how their families are and what illnesses they could contract.

"They're stuck in an environment that they can't control simply because they are poor," she said.

hwinston@pbpost.com

@HannahWinston