SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A class-action lawsuit by the ACLU against the San Diego County Sheriff's Department is moving forward.
The ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties and two other firms, Community Advocates for Just & Moral Governance and the Singleton, Schreiber, McKenzie & Scott law firm, claim Sheriff Bill Gore did not do enough to stop the spread of COVID-19 in San Diego County jails last year.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit in March, just one day after the sheriff announced a major COVID-19 outbreak at the George Bailey Detention Facility in Otay Mesa. Now with the Delta variant quickly spreading, they say it’s critical to make sure that the sheriff does everything he can to stop the spread of the virus in jails.
“Our basic position throughout this entire litigation is that people who are in San Diego County jails haven’t been sentenced to die from COVID-19. The sheriff has an obligation to protect them and has been failing to do that,” said Jonathan Markovitz, a staff attorney for ACLU San Diego and Imperial Counties.
As of July 17, the sheriff’s department reports that 1,292 people have tested positive for coronavirus in San Diego County jails since the pandemic began. So far, the department has confirmed that one inmate with preexisting conditions died from COVID-19 while in custody.
“It took the sheriff over three months to acknowledge Mr. Edel Loredo’s death and one of the things that signals for us, is that there’s a lag in reporting, which means we just can’t know how many people have died on his watch,” Markovitz said.
The ACLU also claims the sheriff’s department continued to transfer inmates from facility to facility, taking the virus with them, during the height of the pandemic last year. Now they say jail populations have risen sharply again, making social distancing even more difficult.
Mary Estrada said her husband is incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego and contracted COVID-19 last year but has since recovered.
“The minute that the numbers started to rise, they should’ve done something. Not just sweep them under the carpet. That’s what happens most of the time with our loved ones. They’re forgotten,” Estrada said.
Still, the sheriff’s department told the court it has taken significant measures to ensure safety since last year and about 3,000 inmates have been vaccinated. As of Tuesday, the department's website shows that there are no active COVID cases in custody.
The ACLU says the judge’s decision allowing the suit to move forward gives them hope that some permanent changes will be made. News 8 reached out to the county but they do not comment on pending litigation.
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