Jails locked down, trials suspended as COVID-19 spreads among Stanislaus inmates, jurors

Stanislaus County jail facilities are on lockdown, and jury trials have been suspended, because of COVID-19 outbreaks infecting both inmates and jurors.

Sgt. Luke Schwartz, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said approximately 70 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the year. The COVID-19 infections have also impacted jail staff. Authorities did not release the number of jail staff members affected.

After the positive tests emerged, the Sheriff’s Department activated a COVID response plan that placed areas of the jail under quarantine. Schwartz said he couldn’t say how many sections of the jail facilities were locked down.

For the last two weeks, unnecessary inmate movements and activities have been restricted as a precaution, Schwartz said. Medical staff is monitoring the inmate population 24 hours a day and providing health care.

Schwartz said he was not aware of any severe cases of the virus tied to the jail.

The omicron variant is reported to be the cause of most COVID-19 cases in Stanislaus County. The variant is highly contagious but is widely reported to cause less severe illness and fewer hospitalizations.

The outbreak in the county jail disrupted proceedings this week in Stanislaus Superior Court. Of the 15 defendants in custody scheduled to appear in just one courtroom on Friday, 10 could not appear because they were in quarantine, said Presiding Judge Robert Westbrook.

Inmates who were scheduled to be in court this week had their cases continued for two to three weeks. Judge Ricardo Córdova said in court Friday that an entire jail unit must test negative for two consecutive weeks before anyone in it can return to court.

Westbrook said jury trials have been suspended for two weeks and will remain suspended at least through next week. They’ve also closed Clerk’s Offices through Feb. 4 due to COVID-related staffing shortages.

Westbrook said three trials were underway when Omicron hit and one of them — a DUI case — resulted in a mistrial when two jurors contracted COVID-19 and a third was excused for a different reason. He said the other two trials also lost jurors due to coronavirus illness but had enough alternates to reach a conclusion.

Even for defendants who have not waived time for a speedy trial, Stanislaus Superior Court has an emergency order from the State’s Chief Justice that gives good cause to postpone hearings due to the ongoing pandemic. Westbrook said he has to apply for an extension of that order every month.

Schwartz said the sheriff’s office is working to keep the jail outbreak from impacting the court system. He said he couldn’t estimate how long the infections among inmates will prevent them from making court appearances.

“We are being as cautious as we can,” Schwartz said. “We don’t want to move people who possibly have an existing infection. We are not going to bring over inmates who can make others sick.”

A Sheriff’s Department daily report online said 1,356 men and women were being held in jail on Friday.

Stanislaus jail staff are tested on weekly basis

Authorities are in communication with county public health experts about protocols for containing the spread of COVID-19 within jail walls. One of the protocols is weekly testing for custodial deputies and other staff, Schwartz said.

“We are telling staff if you become ill, please stay home,” the spokesman said.

A previous outbreak of COVID-19 virus in the Stanislaus County jail was reported in November 2020. What the Sheriff’s Department initially said was a minor outbreak soon spread to nearly 100 inmates and staff.

The omicron variant that is circulating now may be four times more infectious than other strains of COVID-19 and spreads easily in places where people are in close quarters. The omicron variant is considered half as likely to cause severe illness and hospitalization than the delta variant, which sickened thousands of county residents in the second half of 2020.

“We are taking every step we can, every measure in our control, to keep our jail facilities healthy for inmates and staff alike,” Schwartz said.

Stanislaus Superior Court has had to suspend jury trials several times since the start of the pandemic, leading to a significant backlog in cases.

When not suspended, the court can safely hold about three jury trials a week. Westbrook said the judges meet to prioritize which cases will go to trial each week, considering factors like whether the defendant is in custody, if they have waived their right to a speedy trial and if their case has been continued multiple times as a result of the pandemic.

Westbrook said serious felony crimes also take priority but, “our misdemeanor backlog has become so great we try to do at least one misdemeanor and two felonies each week.”

Despite continued disruptions to the criminal justice system, Westbrook said the “emergency bail schedule implemented at the outset of the pandemic has helped to mitigate spread.”

It “was put in place to mitigate this vector of transmission of COVID from the jail into our courts and also back into the community,” he said. “The decision to reduce the jail population, for all the criticism the policy received, has been critically necessary to keeping the doors to the courthouse open, at least for now, in a county with a 56% vaccination rate.”