With the day-to-day changes to the situation surrounding the COVID-19 virus, many organizations, from hotels to restaurants, are finding new ways to conduct business and mitigate risk to the public and their staff.
The jails which dot the state are no different. District attorneys across the state are evaluating ways in which the staff can limit interaction with different individuals and whether jail populations should be decreased in response to the virus.
But with 22 separate judicial districts ranging from the Kansas border to the high Rockies, different jurisdictions are handling the everchanging situation in different ways.
In the Denver metro area, where the strictest orders against COVID-19 have stopped businesses and gatherings, steps have been taken not only to limit jail populations, but to remove dangers for staff and those in custody as well.
In a statement, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said it was doing its part regarding the virus, and Chief Justice Brian Coats’ emergency orders. Following a pattern across the nation, DA Beth McCann asked all employees who can work from home to do so and reduced the number of people in the office and courts.
On March 16, an agreement on a pretrial release was reached for six pregnant women. Each of these women was deemed at high risk for COVID-19 and were scheduled for release by May 27.
The office said it will continue working with the courts, community corrections, public defenders and others in exploring possibilities for the early release of other inmates most at risk for the virus, or with 30 or less days remaining on sentences.
Boulder County, however, has taken specific measures to protect not only the inmates of the jail there, but the jail staff and public at large as well.
DA Michael Dougherty of the 20th Judicial District explained one of his main concern comes lies in the fact that those housed in the jail will be released back into the public at some point.
Dougherty said he feels sure we’ll get through the COVID-19 time, however, there have been major adjustments to every workplace, bar and gathering, “and the justice system is not exempt from that.”
He said that among Boulder’s top priorities are protecting victims as we “rush” in response to the crisis while also looking for ways to reduce the jail population. “We have to recognize that the virus is going to hit the jail at some point,” Dougherty said. “The difference being we’re not talking about someone who is spending years of a sentence for a serious offense. The jail — every day — has people checking in and checking out.”
On any given day, the Boulder jail has around 500 offenders. Once the virus hits the jail, those people will be at risk. “Let’s say the virus hits the jail, it spreads like wildfire, and 200 of them get infected — and then they get released back into the community.”
The jail cannot hold anyone who tests for the virus beyond their release date, so those 200 people would be released back into the community where they could have an immediate sweeping effect on the ability to contain the virus or not, he said.
In that vein, Boulder has been trying to be proactive and has taken steps to stop the spread of the virus. Some of the prevention measures include increasing the number of summonses and looking at releasing individuals in the jail with preexisting medical conditions. Five out of 19 possible inmates were released after investigation into their health, background and case.
“I think it’s a great step, because those five people hopefully are going to hunker down somewhere and not expose to the other 500 inmates and possibly be at risk of dying if — well, not if, when the virus hits the jail,” he said.
Every day, members of the public, jail, public defender and medical staff come and go from the jail. Protocols to limit exposure have been put into place, such as closing the jail to visitors and videoconferencing from the jail so that judges, DA, defender and court staff do not have to appear at the jail, Dougherty said. Another option was increased use of PR bonds and possible releasing of those currently in jail who could qualify for a PR bond due to the new criteria of limiting numbers in the jail.
Anyone in the jail with less than 45 days left to serve on their sentence was a possibility for release. Each case was investigated, and individuals were identified who were serving a nonviolent sentence with low risk and then asked court’s permission for release. Dougherty added that his office has been working closely with law enforcement, and victims involved in those cases before seeking a release.
The goal is to limit the risk of exposure for offenders, people in the jail working with and caring for them, and to recognize the fact that these people are reentering the community in a short period of time, Dougherty said.
“It’s the difference of somebody getting out now, or someone getting out 20 days from now after they’ve been infected by the virus,” Dougherty said.
If the virus did hit the jail, each individual offender would be evaluated on what could be done with the case, he added. The jail has less than five cells for containment in case of an infectious disease.
He added he was thankful for the collaboration between law enforcement, the jail and the different staffs to take proactive measures against the disease and advised that he believed “everyone should be doing it.”
“Obviously this is an extraordinary time for every jurisdiction and across Colorado, and throughout the world,” Dougherty said.
DA Jim Bullock of the 16th Judicial District said use of technology for court services has been an important part of court work for years. With a judicial district which stretches over 97 miles and three counties, technology aides their work and public.
For his district, video conferencing is how almost all advisement is done by the office on a day to day basis.
Bullock said his office has been expressing to everyone was to slow down and take a breath since the “sky is not falling.”
He and his staff identified that approximately 22% of current pretrial detainees had the ability to be released on PR bonds with certain conditions. Typically, these people would not have qualified would not be released if not for this virus.
Those who were released would comply with court orders anyway, and compliance was not an issue. He added that in his experience, some people were trying to use the virus as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
“With very simple, modest combinations we’re handling it,” he said.
And along the Utah border, Dan Rubinstein, the 21st Judicial District Attorney, told Law Week no plan was in place to organize release of jail inmates.
The district uses a pretrial bonding system which utilizes a robust pretrial service program, and any offenders who are believed to be safely managed in the community are released on PR bonds.
“Certainly, if we have community spread in the detention facility, we can always revisit the plans,” he added.
— Avery Martinez