Covid-19 Mitigation at the County Jail And Its Unexpected Consequences

Conclusions 2

• CL1 Page 14
  Sonoma County’s detention facilities have seen no deaths from COVID and have not transferred any cases to a hospital. These positive outcomes resulted from unprecedented coordination and partnership across the County to reduce the incarcerated population quickly after COVID began to spread, and from the Sheriff’s Office timely implementation of measures designed to limit contagion in the jail. Now the Sheriff’s Office and Wellpath need to collaborate to better adapt the jail’s policies and procedures, both to prevent outbreaks and to relieve the isolation and limited activity that have resulted from the jail’s mitigation and quarantine procedures. Keeping everyone safe was the first critical priority, but after more than a year, the Sheriff’s Office and Wellpath must focus on improving living conditions in the jail, especially the isolation and lack of communication with the outside world. By continuing efforts to keep the incarcerated population at or below the levels we experienced during the pandemic, the cost savings will be more than sufficient to defray some of the jail’s longstanding and troubling problems, including the lack of sufficient visiting options, the insufficient number of discharge planners, and unsustainable amounts of mandatory overtime for correctional officers.
• CL2 Page 15
  The Jury recognizes that fast-moving developments in the fight against COVID may overtake some of its Recommendations. The Jury is hopeful, for example, that everyone who works or sleeps in the County jail is vaccinated by the time this report is published. With the potential for variants and the likely need for booster vaccinations, however, the Jury believes its Findings and Recommendations remain valid and relevant.

Commendations 3

• CM1 Page 15
  The Jury commends the District Attorney and the Public Defender for their cooperative approach to reducing the County’s incarcerated population to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
• CM2 Page 15
  The Jury commends the Sheriff’s Office for leading the effort to change policing policies throughout the county to maintain the reduced jail population.
• CM3 Page 15
  The Jury commends Independent Order of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach for being responsive to inmates’ concerns and prompting the Sheriff’s Office to begin providing inmates with 10 minutes of phone time each day.

No Responses Found 3

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.