Inmates in a sewing program at the Las Colinas women’s jail in Santee have made more than 10,000 masks since March in an effort to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the county’s jail system.

The masks are being distributed to inmates at seven jails across San Diego County, according to the county Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail system.

Participants in the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility’s sewing program, which is considered a job-training course, typically help make inmate uniforms, bedding, recyclable bags and other items needed in the jails, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department.

But lately, their focus has been on face masks, which county and state leaders began encouraging all people to wear at the beginning of April.


The 14 women in the program are divided into two teams: One team cuts and designs the fabric for the masks; the other sews the straps. The face coverings are then washed in hypoallergenic detergent before being packaged for delivery.

In a video produced by the Sheriff’s Department, 45-year-old Isaura Obeso said she loves the work she and her fellow program participants are doing.

“I like it because we’re helping the community. At least we’re being helpful,” Obeso said in the video. “And at the end of the day, you feel like you’re doing something good for someone, and preventing all this for somebody else not to get infected.”

Inmates, advocates and authorities have long worried that jails and prisons would be especially hard hit by the coronavirus.


A nurse at Las Colinas tested positive for the coronavirus last month, according to the Sheriff’s Department. So far, at least seven sheriff’s employees have tested positive.

As of Tuesday, there was one county jail inmate still in custody who had tested positive, according to the Sheriff’s Department. There were at least three inmates who had tested positive as of early last week.

Some inmates and their family members say conditions in the jails are more serious than department officials have acknowledged. Among other problems, they cite a persistent lack of virus testing and inadequate protective gear and medical care.

Family members also said inmates at the George F. Bailey Detention Facility were retaliated against and punished for protesting jail conditions by posing for a photo with a bed sheet on which someone wrote "#We dont deserve 2 die” and supplying the photo to the Union-Tribune.


The Sheriff’s Department has said it is taking reasonable precautions to keep the coronavirus from infiltrating the jails, including issuing masks to employees and inmates, giving new inmates hygiene kits with soap, modifying times for recreation and access to day rooms, evaluating inmates who have flu-like symptoms and screening jail employees for fever before they start their shifts.