DUBLIN — In response to the spreading coronavirus pandemic, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office released more than 300 inmates from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin this week so far, authorities said.

Sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Ray Kelly said Wednesday a judge released 67 inmates on their own recognizance in a bid to reduce the jail population. The inmates had to promise to make their court dates and not commit any crimes while out of custody.

On Thursday, the sheriff’s office announced that an additional 247 people from the jail were approved for sentence modifications and early release. A sentence modification could mean for example, electronic home monitoring, or other alternatives to time in jail.

The Sheriff’s Office is booking only people suspected of committing serious and violent crimes such as child abuse, sexual offenses and human trafficking.

Sacramento County sheriff’s officials also began releasing non-violent inmates Tuesday night from jails, according to the Sacramento Bee. Those releases so far involved only a handful of inmates within 30 days of their scheduled release date, according to the newspaper.

“Law enforcement is taking a different posture on day-to-day business,” Kelly told this news organization.

When making arrests, officers on the street are using “a tremendous amount of discretion,” he said. Unless a person poses a threat to public safety, they won’t be booked in Santa Rita Jail for now.

Some of the released inmates had no place to go and the county is working with state and local authorities to find either hotels or shelters for them, Kelly said.

Kelly expects the new booking policy and natural attrition will combine to significantly reduce the number of inmates at the jail, which has a capacity to hold 3,500 people and has been averaging about 2,600.

Activists have been concerned that coronavirus could spread into jails, and Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods last week urged county leaders to order the release of inmates at least 50 years old, those at high risk because of underlying health conditions and those with six months or less to serve on their sentence.

Kelly said options are “on the table.”

Yolanda Huang, an attorney who handles jail incarceration issues, said she’s been getting calls from inmates who were supposed to be arraigned but weren’t because the courts are closed and thus could remain locked up longer than they need to be.

Jail visitation has been drastically reduced or suspended altogether throughout the Bay Area since COVID-19’s spread. Alameda County suspended all in-person visitation, although video visiting is still allowed. Any jail employee or defendant exhibiting symptoms of the virus could be denied entry and sent instead to a medical facility, according to the Sheriffs’ Office.

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Alameda County has reported a huge COVID-19 death total in recent weeks. Here’s why. Santa Clara County also has announced a moratorium on jail visits and declared that inmates instead would be “gifted” a couple of five-minute calls per week during the duration of the region’;s shelter-in-place order.

In Contra Costa County, the Sheriff’s Office has suspended most visits to the county’s jail facilities, although attorneys are still allowed to have non-contact visits with their clients.

Last week, two Santa Clara County jail inmates were placed into quarantine after a visitor who interviewed them tested positive for the virus. Two other inmates were placed in isolation Monday as a precaution.

Staff Writers Robert Salonga and Nate Gartrell contributed to this story.