1st San Quentin officer dies from COVID-19 as virus claims 4th condemned Sacramento inmate
California correctional officials announced two deaths related to a massive coronavirus outbreak at San Quentin State Prison: The first prison guard to die of COVID-19 and the fourth inmate condemned from Sacramento County to die since early July.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Sgt. Gilbert Polanco, an Army veteran and guard at the facility since 1988, had died. He had been hospitalized since July 3 with the virus. In total, 261 workers at San Quentin have been infected with COVID-19, but Polanco’s death was the first among the Marin County facility’s staff.
“Sgt. Gilbert Polanco is an example of the best of CDCR and his passing deeply saddens us all,” CDCR Secretary Ralph Diaz said in a statement Sunday. “His dedication to public service will not be forgotten.”
Since the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified earlier this year, more than 1,975 prison staff within CDCR have contracted the virus. While 928 have recovered, CDCR’s tally notes, Palanco was the ninth CDCR employee to succumb to the virus.
Acting San Quentin Warden Ron Broomfield said “our hearts are broken” over the 55-year-old’s death.
“Sgt. Gilbert Polanco demonstrated unwavering commitment and bravery as a peace officer working the frontline every day during this devastating pandemic,” Broomfield said in a statement. “His memory is carried on in the hearts of all the men and women who continue to battle this deadly virus at San Quentin. We mourn together with his family and pray for their peace and comfort in the midst of their immeasurable loss.”
The Polanco family, including his son Vincent, recently home from a U.S. Army station in South Korea, told The Mercury News they had been hopeful for his recovery within the last few days. Doctors had started a plasma treatment and weaned him off steroids after he was intubated for several weeks. For the first time in 10 days, they were able to position him on his back, Polanco’s wife, Patricia Polanco, told The Mercury News.
A GoFundMe campaign for Polanco, a San Jose native, and his family has raised nearly $70,000.
Inmates with Sacramento ties to die from the coronavirus
Also on Sunday, San Quentin inmate Pedro Arias, 58, died at an outside hospital from “what appears to be complications related to COVID-19,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced. Officials said a coroner will further determine the cause.
Arias is the 25th inmate there to die from COVID-19 complications amid an outbreak linked to the May transfer of 121 inmates from the California Institution for Men in Chino where an outbreak had taken hold. Some 25 tested positive for the virus after they arrived at San Quentin on May 30 and it spread from there. Weeks later, three inmates moved from San Quentin to California Correctional Center in Susanville likely sparking an outbreak there.
According to CDCR officials, Arias was sentenced to death in Sacramento County on Feb. 22, 1990, for first-degree murder and second-degree robbery while armed with a firearm. He was also sentenced to life without parole for kidnapping for ransom/extortion, penetration with a foreign object, attempted sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, sodomy of a child under 14, two counts of forcible rape, second-degree robbery and enhancements for the use of a firearm.
Arias, then 24, stabbed Herbert John Waltrip Jr., 22, while robbing a convenience store at 44th Street and Fruitridge Road on May 23, 1987. Waltrip, who worked at the store, died during emergency surgery.
Thirteen days later, Arias, who lived on Lemon Hill Avenue, rammed the fender of a car on Highway 50, then kidnapped the driver at gunpoint when she stopped to exchange information with him. For about three hours, he drove with her around Sacramento and Yolo counties, alternately assaulting her and collecting cash from her accounts, according to previous Bee reporting.
The victim escaped by running into a hardware store as Arias stood in line at an ATM at Mack Road and Franklin Boulevard. Arias escaped in a stolen truck but was arrested after he rolled the truck over.
After a trial that included outbursts including him ripping off his clothes in the courtroom, Arias offered a statement of remorse at sentencing, but only after offering his opinion that the death penalty is not a deterrent to murder and is a cruel and unusual punishment because of the waiting time between sentencing and execution. Arias spent 30 years on death row, which was halted in 2019 by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“I never intended to kill that man and I wish I never, never did that. The only person I owe an apology to is John Waltrip, and someday maybe I’ll be able to do that,” Arias said.
The number of inmates condemned is now 713.
Arias’ death follows three others on death row who were convicted in Sacramento County:
▪ Manuel Machado Alvarez, 59, died July 3. He was convicted more than 30 years ago for a May 1987 spree over four days in which he raped an 38-year-old woman, fatally stabbed a 35-year-old Sacramento Police Department identification technician while trying to rob him and injured a 78-year-old while stealing her car.
Alvarez, a native of Cuba, didn’t bat an eye as he was sentenced to death by Superior Court Judge Darrel W. Lewis for the death of Allen Ray Birkman at an ATM, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting.
At the time of the crimes, Alvarez, who was 26, had been out on parole for after serving time for killing one man and stabbing another through the throat during a knife attack in Los Angeles County on Dec. 27, 1981. During his incarceration at trial, Alvarez also attacked two inmates at the Sacramento County Main Jail.
▪ Jeffrey Jay Hawkins, 64, died July 15. He was sentenced to death Jan. 31, 1990, after being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder with the use of a gun, and attempted first-degree murder with the use of a gun inflicting great bodily injury.
Hawkins had seven prior felony convictions when he was convicted of killing John Robert Hedlund, 42, and Herman Alfonzo Hicks Jr., 39, in incidents six days apart.
▪ Troy Adam Ashmus, 58, died July 20. He had been on death row at San Quentin State Prison since September 1986 after he was convicted for the murder of a 7-year-old girl, according to Sacramento Bee archives.
He had already been serving a six-year sentence for assault to commit a sex crime when prosecutors charged him with the 1984 slaying of Marcella Davis after attacking her at Santa Anita Park, raping her and then stuffing two wadded up plastic bags down her throat.
The then-22-year-old carnival worker lured the girl from the pond at Howe Avenue Park by offering to give her a baby duck. Earlier that same day, he attacked a jogger and dragged her into some bushes before fleeing when two men happened upon the scene.
Virus in state prison system
Among the more than 98,000 men and women incarcerated in state prisons in California as of Sunday, 8,780 have tested positive for the virus, including 52 who have died. More than 1,000 of those infections have been detected within the past two weeks.
The prison system reports that more than 1,300 inmates statewide currently have active COVID-19 infections, while more than 7,000 have recovered. Additionally, more than 300 inmates have been released from prison after fulfilling their sentence while still categorized with an active coronavirus infection.
Those releases don’t count thousands of other inmates released from custody to decompress the prison population. Under an initial round of releases in April, about 3,500 inmates who were within 60 days of their scheduled release — and not serving time for a violent crime — were set free.
In July, the system made additional releases. That included about 2,100 inmates whose awards of time off for good behavior moved up their release dates into July and 4,800 eligible inmates with six months or less left to serve.
The current statewide prison system population is down by more than 16,300 since March 11.
.The Fresno Bee’s Tim Sheehan and The Mercury News of San Jose contributed to this story.
