High infection rates in county jail system

Sheriff ’s claim of ‘herd immunity’ is criticized by inmate advocate.

As extensive testing for the novel coronavirus gets underway in the vast Los Angeles County jail system, high infection rates are emerging, with nearly 60% of one group of inmates testing positive.

Among 600 inmates at North County Correctional Facility in Castaic who were without symptoms and living in the general population, 40% tested positive, indicating that herd immunity “is starting to take effect,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday.

At Men’s Central Jail, nearly 60% in a dorm of 67 asymptomatic inmates tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Inspector General Max Huntsman, independent watchdog for the L.A. County Sheriff ’s Department.

But Villanueva said the number of inmates with symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has gone down, putting the jails “in a better place than we were a week ago, when we were in the opposite direction.”

Patrisse Cullors, chairwoman and founder of Reform L.A. Jails, which has pushed for universal testing in the jails and more inmates to be released early, called the sheriff ’s herd immunity theory “ignorant and incredibly risky.”

“The numbers he announced are appalling,” she said. “It shows there’s an outbreak in the jails.”

Huntsman said last week that the jails are violating guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for physical distancing and testing in correctional facilities.

“There’s now a full-blown epidemic within a pandemic in our jail,” he said. “There’s no way that sleeping head to toe or cutting down the numbers a little bit is going to make a difference.”