Jail officials have reopened a recently closed building to house other inmates, placing detainees who test positive in one part of the facility and those with symptoms — a fever, cough, sore throat — in another, said two people with knowledge of the inner workings of the jail. Both groups were given masks.

Yet in interviews, six jail employees and eight people either recently released or still being held on Rikers Island described a tense, crowded and unsanitary atmosphere inside the 10 jails there. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their jobs or out of fear of reprisals from law enforcement officials.

Jimmy, who was recently released from Rikers Island, said that he and other detainees had mixed shampoo with water and used the solution to disinfect countertops, doorknobs and other areas in a dorm shared by 50 men. They had not been given cleaning supplies, he said. Feces was on the walls of some holding pens and dorm areas, two detainees said.

Social distancing is impossible, he said. In the Rikers jailhouse where Jimmy was, 40 to 50 inmates use the same toilets and share three phones to call loved ones and lawyers. During meals, the detainees sit at five tables with six stools. “That’s elbow to elbow,” Jimmy said. Some of the tables are caked with food from previous meals, he said.

Department officials said that phones are sanitized every two hours and that inmates have access to soap and cleaning supplies.

Several detainees and recently released people said they learned about the virus from friends and family or from watching television. The only guidance they received from correction staff was a pamphlet instructing them to cough into their arms and to wash their hands often.

Another inmate said during a telephone interview that correction staff met with a group of detainees and encouraged them to eat more fruit, and told them that the coronavirus “was no worse than the common cold.”