ACLU challenges Broward jails on COVID protection
Broward jails are not doing enough to protect inmates and employees from the threat of COVID-19, according to legal action filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
Testing of people who are entering the jail has been nonexistent, at least until recently, and testing of people who have been exposed has been far less than adequate, according to the civil rights group, which was joined in legal action against the jail last year by the national ACLU, Disability Rights Florida, and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
The federal suit did not include MiamiDade or Palm Beach counties.
Earlier this week the organizations filed a motion in federal court seeking to force the Broward Sheriff ’s Office to comply with an agreement to protect the jail population by testing new inmates and placing those with symptoms or who test positive in quarantine.
“Last month we had a medical expert go into the jail, and at the time they weren’t doing testing at all at admission,” said Curtis Filaroski, staff attorney for Disability Rights Florida. “This is a public safety issue. The jail population is a vulnerable one. An outbreak there will affect those who work there, and that will affect law enforcement and the public.” The number of COVID cases in the jails was not available Wednesday.
Nancy Rosenbloom , an attorney for the national ACLU, credited the Broward Sheriff ’s Office with voicing the commitment to protect the jail population. “They certainly expressed a willingness to do the right thing,” she said. “Our position is that they are out of compliance. They are not doing the things they agreed to do.”
The Sheriff ’s Office, which runs the jail, did not respond Wednesday afternoon to a request for comment. The agency typically does not comment on pending legal action and has until next Monday to respond in court to the ACLU’s allegations.