COVID cases at Sacramento County Main Jail more than triple in last week, lawyers say

The number of COVID-19 positive inmates at Sacramento County Main Jail has more than tripled in the last week, alarming defense attorneys who say their access to clients is severely limited because of the spike.

The precise number of inmates testing positive at the jail was not immediately available Tuesday morning.

County figures show 28 were positive as of last Wednesday. The county’s dashboard on such figures is updated weekly on Wednesdays and a county spokeswoman could not immediately provide current figures Tuesday morning.

But Chief Assistant Federal Defender Ben Galloway said his office was told Monday night by the U.S. Marshals Service that 103 of the 297 federal inmates at the Main Jail have tested positive, up from seven on Jan. 5.

“We are alarmed,” Galloway said Tuesday, adding that defense attorneys “are desperate to find out how they can protect their clients.”

“The fact that there are 103 positives out of a very small population is stunning,” Galloway added. “What does that say about the entire population?”

Federal defenders have not visited their clients in the jail in person since March because of concerns about conditions inside the facility. Instead, they have relied upon video conferencing and telephone calls to consult with them.

But inmates who have tested positive and are quarantined do not have the same amount of access, Galloway said.

“They’re unable to contact their clients because they’re not not being given access to video teleconferencing and only limited access to telephones while they’re in COVID quarantine,” he said. “They’re unable to have medical releases signed so we can get medical records for our clients to determine whether they’re seriously sick and in need of special treatment.”

The county’s figures as of Jan. 6 show 28 COVID-positive inmates in the Main Jail and 159 at Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center.

But Galloway said figures from the U.S. Marshals Service showed a spike began after Jan. 7, when seven federal inmates tested positive at the Main Jail. The next day, that number had increased to 31, he said, then increased on Monday to 103.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office referred a request for figures on the number of current positive cases to the county, and said the increase in cases is “due to the fact County Health has mandated much more random testing within the jail facilities.”

“People that are asymptomatic, which I am told is more than 90%, and initially were not tested, are now being randomly tested and testing positive,” Sgt. Rod Grassmann said in an email. “This is exactly what is occurring in the broader Sacramento community, more testing shows more positive results even when people are completely asymptomatic with no idea they have it.

“The take away here is that there have been no deaths or hospitalizations of inmates due to covid. A small percentage of people (Less than 10%) testing positive are experiencing mild symptoms and are being quarantined and treated by correctional health.”

The increase at the Main Jail follows a spike last week at RCCC, where the number of inmates infected with COVID-19 more than doubled after the Sheriff’s Office halted visits to slow the outbreak.

Last Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office reported 159 RCCC inmates had tested positive, an increase from 58 infected reported Dec. 30.

No deaths have been reported at either facility.

This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 12:32 PM.