Coronavirus fears spawn war of words, demands for inmate releases from Sacramento jail

Public defenders in Sacramento say the danger from coronavirus in the county jails has reached a new level, with a county public defender believed to have tested positive for the disease after visiting a client last week.

“We learned today that a Sacramento County deputy public defender tested positive for COVID,” Federal Defenders Heather Williams and Ben Galloway wrote in a letter Tuesday to U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott. “That attorney did a jail visit last week and spoke with a client using the Jail’s social visiting area.

“This is not business as usual. All releasable federal detainees should be released to shelter-in-place. This should include all non-violent pretrial detainees with a release address, all non-violent probation and supervised release violators, and anyone post-plea and pre-sentencing for a non-violent offense.”

Sacramento County Public Defender’s officials confirmed the case in a statement Wednesday afternoon, telling The Sacramento Bee that the office immediately notified fellow criminal justice agencies and is in close contact with county health officials. The attorney is isolating at home, the office said Wednesday.

“It is publicly known that one of our employees tested positive for COVID-19. Upon notification of this diagnosis, the Public Defender immediately notified our people, the County Department of Health Services, and our criminal justice partners. We are in close communications with the Sacramento County Department of Health Services regarding all COVID-19 issues. Everything we do is based on the advice of the Public Health experts,” the statement reads, adding that the office remains “committed to zealously advocating for our community and the community members we represent.”

Wednesday’s announcement came less than a week after the news that an employee in Sacramento County Department of Child, Family and Adult Services tested positive. The employee had potentially exposed people in at least three county buildings to the virus before staying home from work beginning March 18, a department spokesperson told The Bee.

That employee was not a social worker, does not go into client homes or have direct contact with clients who receive services from the department, a county spokeswoman said.

Williams and Galloway contend that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has so far made it plain that it fails “to recognize the COVID-19 pandemic as a factor we — the entire Court community — must be worried about.”

Scott emphatically denied that assertion, saying his office has been following the law in hearing where inmates are seeking release from custody because of the coronavirus crisis.

“We absolutely are doing this exactly the way it should be done,” Scott said. “I’m supposed to magically let all these guys out of jail? I don’t have that power. Only the judge can do that.”

He also disputed that a public defender has been tested and found to be infected, saying in a letter Wednesday to Williams and Galloway that the case was considered “presumptive positive” for COVID-19.

“I caution all of us to avoid rushing to spread the first account we hear, particularly as a vehicle toward achieving a litigation objective,” Scott wrote.

Scott added that because of the concerns that have been expressed he personally toured the Main Jail Tuesday.

“I thought it was incumbent upon me to see with my own two eyes, and after everything I saw I have complete confidence that they’ve done everything under the sun to make this safe,” Scott said.

The jail has released more than 540 inmates in recent days to make room for a possible outbreak in either Sacramento facility, but no inmates had tested positive for the disease as of Wednesday afternoon, Sgt. Tess Deterding said.

Federal and county public defenders have been urging changes in visiting practices at the jails since last week, arguing that coronavirus makes it too dangerous for them to visit their clients in the jails and asking for use of videoconferencing technology.

Sacramento Superior Court on Wednesday began livestreaming criminal hearings inside the Lorenzo Patino Hall of Justice, the four courtrooms on the first floor of Sacramento County Main Jail. The state’s Chief Justice on Monday gave courts the green light to use video and other technology to conduct remote hearings after the state’s Judicial Council approved the measures Saturday in emergency session.

The sheriff’s office has maintained the visiting areas are safe, but the disclosure that one public defender may have COVID-19 led Williams and Galloway to write that “acting now is critical.”

They contend in their letter to Scott that “it appears your Office’s representatives were instructed to treat COVID-19 as a non-issue.”

“Once COVID gets into our jails, their ‘petri dish’ environment makes it near impossible to control,” they wrote. “This recognition is prompting California counties to release and reduce their jail populations by a fifth in just the past few weeks.

“If and when federal detainees get sick and die, history will look harshly upon the pronouncements of ‘safe’ confinement conditions. We encourage you to look realistically at this situation and work with us to release our releasable defendants, before it is too late.”

Scott responded by denying that, writing to Williams and Galloway that “not for a moment do I believe that we ‘treat COVID-19 as a non-issue’” and adding that “resorting to personal attacks and false accusations is not helpful.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Coronavirus fears spawn war of words, demands for inmate releases from Sacramento jail."