ACLU continues fight over Sheriff’s lockdown policy Department disputes claims as “false” and “deceptive”
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California stepped up its legal fight against the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, accusing Sheriff Mike Boudreaux of instituting “cruel’ COVID-19 policies that are creating “physical and psychological harm.
The ACLU filed its new claims on February 25. The ACLU and cocounsel Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP filed the new claims. The ACLU stated the sheriff’s office has a “cruel cell confinement policy that has caused physical and psychological harm to incarcerated people.”
The ACLU filed the claims it stated regarding Boudreaux’s mismanagement of a COVID-19 outbreak in the county jail systems Last summer the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit against the sheriff’s office. Boudreaux refuted the claims made in the lawsuit last summer and his department continues to dispute the ACLU’S claims.
The ACLU claims its original complaint anticipated because of a lack of social distancing and testing, a largescale COVID-19 outbreak would occur and that it indeed did happen. In December 2020, the ACLU claimed 80 percent of people living in a single housing unit in the county’s jail system tested positive for COVID-19.
“But there is no way to know the true extent of the outbreak, or whether it has continued, because the Sheriff has refused to conduct regular surveillance testing or broad-based testing of incarcerated people,” the ACLU stated.
The ACLU stated Boudreaux said the “most probably source of the outbreak” was a nonincarcerated kitchen worker. “Yet he continues to conduct only very limited staff testing,” the ACLU stated.
The Sheriff’s Office, though, stressed there are now no known COVID-19 cases in the jail system and no inmates have been hospitalized.
The ACLU added Boudreaux has instituted a policy that requires inmates to stay in their cell 23 to 24 hours a day.
The ACLU claimed it has received reports of one suicide and three suicide attempts since the lockdown took effect in September, 2020. The ACLU also claimed as a result sheriff’s office staff have been medicating people without their consent.
“Throughout this crisis, our clients have been extremely diligent in raising their concerns to jail officials and advocating for their rights,” said Annie Decker, attorney for the plaintiffs at the ACLU. “Despite their warnings, and even in the face of a lawsuit, the Sheriff continues to show deliberate indifference to the people he is charged with protecting. He must act immediately to implement the measures necessary to keep people safe, without willfully infringing on their constitutional rights.”
“As a diabetic, I was very afraid of getting COVID-19 in the Tulare jails,” said named plaintiff Charles Criswell. “But locking people in their cells for 23 to 24 hours a day is not a solution. It’s mentally distressing. When I was inside, I saw people beg to be let out of their cells. Many of these people already have mental illness. To compound that with a lockdown is cruel. In fact, I challenge anyone to experience that and not think it’s cruel. People in the jails need meaningful procedures that keep them safe from COVID-19, and that protect their constitutional rights. Neither of those things are happening.”
The claims seek a court order requiring Boudreaux to assess whether he has properly contained the December outbreak. Other actions sought by the claim is for the department to vaccinate all incarcerated people as soon as possible. The sheriff’s office stated it has already started doing that, vaccinating 100 inmates so far.
The ACLU is also calling for the sheriff’s office to begin releasing inmates, many of who can’t afford bail.
In September, a federal judge ordered the sheriff’s office to implement COVID-19 safety protocols. While Boudreaux said he disagreed with the judge’s findings at the time, he would follow the court order.
The sheriff’s department also stated it provided the court with an extensive plan on how it would comply with the order. The sheriff’s office also stated the court ultimately ruled it was doing everything it can to minimize the COVID-19 threat.
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office told the Fresno Bee it disputed the claims as “false and “deceptive.”
“The ACLU’S most recent attempt to discredit the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and manipulate the narrative of the hard work being done inside Tulare County jails is deceptive and fails in merit,” the sheriff’s office told the Bee. “Simply put, it is not true.”
The Sheriff’s Department also told the Bee Boudreaux welcomes the chance to present his evidence in court his department has done everything properly.
But Decker also said “We are confident that the lockdown is exacerbating the mental health crisis in the jails.”
The latest filings are scheduled to be presented at a court hearing on April 6.