Court rejects suit seeking large release of prisoners
The California Supreme Court refused Monday to order state officials to release large numbers of inmates from local jails and juvenile detention centers to ease crowded conditions that spread the coronavirus.
The court redirected inmate advocates to the counties that run the facilities, but did not rule out further lawsuits against the state.
The claims in the statewide lawsuit “call for prompt attention in a manner that considers the diversity of local conditions throughout the state,” the justices said in a unanimous order.
The state has taken steps to reduce crowding in its prisons and county jails, where protective equipment and testing for COVID19 have sometimes been in short supply and social distancing is virtually impossible.
The state Judicial Council has ordered state
prisons to release inmates with 60 days or less to serve on their sentences, and has told local judges to release recently arrested defendants without bail unless they are charged with serious or violent crimes. Gov. Gavin Newsom has halted transfers of inmates from county jails to state prisons. Despite substantial population reductions in the past decade, state prisons remain filled 30% above their designed capacity.
Inmate advocates have urged federal judges, unsuccessfully so far, to order substantially more releases from state prisons. Monday’s order involved a separate suit filed in the state’s high court April 24 by organizations led by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers arguing for statewide action to protect inmates in jails and juvenile halls.
“Lacking infrastructure for physical distancing and without vigilant hygiene, California’s jails and juvenile facilities are at grave risk of becoming petri dishes for rampant spread of the virus,” the suit said.
It also said law enforcement offices in some counties had defied the Judicial Council’s order to release most newly arrested defendants without bail.
Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County said on April 2, in response to the order, “If you don’t want to get this virus while in custody, don’t break the law.” Health officials say 149 jail inmates in the county have tested positive for the coronavirus.
But Attorney General Xavier Becerra said California law assigns counties, not the state, primary responsibility for conditions in local detention — county sheriffs for the jails, and probation departments for juvenile facilities.
Neither the governor nor the attorney general has a “duty to coordinate or manage conditions at local detention facilities,” Becerra’s office told the court last week. “That responsibility and discretion lies with the counties.”
In Monday’s order, the court said inmate advocates could file similar suits in individual counties, naming both state and local officials as defendants.
Local judges should act quickly, the court said, to “facilitate discussion among all parties to achieve a negotiated resolution that is responsive to local conditions and avoids protracted litigation.”
Sylvia TorresGuillen, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said the order may allow suits against individual counties and the state to be consolidated.
“It’s nearly impossible to find advocates in 58 counties to address the unique emergency we have with COVID19,” she said. “Statewide relief is the most effective way to address this pandemic.”