Judge says Sheriff’s Dept. isn’t doing enough to protect inmates from coronavirus

New concerns are being raised about the safety of inmates inside Riverside County jails.

A class action lawsuit was filed against the county, and a judge said this week that the Sheriff's Dept. hasn't done enough to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said his department is already doing everything they can to keep people healthy inside county jails.

"We don't believe – and we are not considering this any type of jail emergency that we are not handling," Bianco said. "We believe that we have this contained at the moment."

The number of infected inmates in the county has topped 103, with at least 55 sheriff's deputies sickened. Two sheriff's deputies have been killed by the virus so far.

The lawsuit is being brought against the county by inmate advocacy group Prison Law Office. Attorney Sara Norman is leading the charge.

"These are people who are in these very small spaces, very crowded in together," Norman said. "Many are elderly, many have preexisting medical conditions – they're really vulnerable to getting seriously ill or dying from the virus."

Norman said proper social distancing and even sometimes basic hygiene are impossible in crowded jails, where conditions are prime for disastrous spread of disease.

The sheriff said appropriate measures are being taken.

"​We've done everything we can to clean, to add extra cleaning with masks and gloves and hand sanitizer," Bianco said.

After reviewing the Sheriff's Dept.'s plan, a federal judge said this week they haven't done enough to stop the spread.

The judge wrote, "Defendant did not have information regarding conditions in the existing county jail facilities, insisted that moving prisoners to a newly completed, empty jail in Indio was not feasible, and admitted that it had not researched alternative housing options such as recreation centers, halfway houses, and hotels."

Prison Law Office is now calling for low-level inmates reaching the ends of their sentences to be set free to reduce jail crowding.

"Why can't you let people go earlier, give them a fighting chance to escape the virus," Norman asked.

"If you don't want to catch this virus in custody, dont break the law," Bianco said. "That's really all I can tell you."

The Sheriff's Dept. is now ordered to engage in mediation with the Prison Law Group and come up with a plan that meets the judge's requirements. The hearing is scheduled for Friday.

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