MILPITAS – The number of inmates in Santa Clara County infected with COVID-19 has risen to 36 in one day, nearly doubling the number of active detention cases and a sharp increase since New Year’s Eve, according to Santa’s figures. limited. Sheriff’s Office in Clara County.
An online dashboard maintained by the sheriff’s office has shown 74 active detention cases in the country’s prisons as of Tuesday, and more than 60 new cases since Dec. 31. Most of the upheaval occurred in the Elmwood Men’s Prison in Milpitas, in units, with residence configurations where inmates and prison staff said physical distance was impractical and often impossible.
Balju se Sgt. Michael Low confirmed that most new infections were reported in the M8 wing at Elmwood, which has four 68-bed modules. Men detained in the wings said two of the M8 dormitories had been completely cleared, and prisoners had been relocated to quarantine units elsewhere on the premises, including at least one part of the women’s prison.
Low said the sheriff was conducting contact detection to determine the origin of the outbreak, but had not yet identified the source or sources.
“We are doing everything in our power to reduce the spread of this contagious virus and to protect the health and safety of everyone within our facilities and the community,” Low wrote in an email.
But several inmates and their family members have contacted this news organization over the past few days to reiterate chronic grievances they have expressed about prison conditions amid the pandemic, including but not limited to modest clothing allowances, a lack of cleaning supplies and inconsistent compliance with basic COVID-19 safety protocols.
One man detained in an M8 unit said they still see prison guards not wearing masks, and that it is normal to drive food trucks between residential units without being disinfected. He added that a lack of necessities led the prisoners to use their own towels or even their clothes to clean their spaces.
“We see a lot of violations with cleaning protocols,” said the man, who asked for fear of retaliation not to be named. “We definitely feel unsafe.”
Other inmates and their family members continue to reflect concerns of public defenders and other advocates about the merging of inmates from quarantine and non-quarantine units during transportation to and from court. A woman who says her husband is being quarantined in Elmwood claims that the fact that inmates are restricted in their movement and where they can go, staff and other jail visitors are overlooked as vectors to put the virus in custody .
The woman, who also asked not to be named due to retaliation for her husband, referred to a report by this news organization about a holiday party involving correctional deputies, which included the collection of restrictions and the removal of protocols that wearing the mask, transgressing, which coincided with a rise. prison infections in prison and an outbreak at the 7B wing at Main Jail involving about 30 inmates.
“I strongly believe that guards who gathered for the holiday contributed to this great outbreak in the facility,” she said.
To date, the sheriff has recorded more than 360 COVID-19 detention contagions, according to their data published online. As coronavirus cases continue to rise in the Bay and across the country, prisons in the province have been anything but immune, with previous spikes involving nearly 100 inmates in a two-week period of July and August at the Elmwood facility and ‘ an increase in the main prison’s 5B wing in July.