So far, 200 jail inmates released over COVID-19 concerns, Sedgwick County DA says
Since mid-March, about 200 inmates have been released from the Sedgwick County Jail over concerns about the new coronavirus.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said this week that he is working with defense attorneys, law enforcement and the local Sheriff’s Office to reduce the jail’s population as COVID-19 spreads in the Wichita area.
The goal, he told The Eagle, is to give the Sedgwick County Jail “breathing room” so it has enough space to isolate inmates who might fall ill in the coming weeks.
“It’s not worth the cost both monetarily and also in human terms to have somebody in here at risk of getting or spreading the virus,” he said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 11 people in Sedgwick County had tested positive for COVID-19, but health officials have said that there may be hundreds more infected who haven’t been tested yet or are asymptomatic. None of the positive cases are at the jail, the largest in Kansas.
But if the virus is introduced, it could sweep through and sicken dozens of inmates who bunk and interact in quarters closer than what’s recommended in safe social distancing guidelines.
Bennett said about 150 inmates charged with misdemeanors, traffic offenses and low-level felonies were released on bond last week— and his office is working to free more.
“We’re going to continue to work through this and process as many people out as we can without risking public safety,” he said.
One hundred fifty “is a good start.”
He estimated an additional 50 had been released through Wednesday afternoon.
This week, Bennett said his office is turning its attention to fast-tracking probation violation hearings for about 95 inmates — many of whom would likely be freed anyway if a judge reinstates their probation, or would be sent on to prison if they’re ordered to serve an underlying sentence.
The Kansas Department of Corrections currently is still accepting transfers from county jails but on Thursday morning will start taking new inmates’ temperatures and ask them to complete a brief questionnaire, agency spokeswoman Rebecca Witte said by email.
Bennett said the court is attempting to conduct those hearings via remote video feed — the same technology used to conduct first appearances for defendants jailed in Sedgwick County — to abide by social distancing guidelines.
They’re also focusing on resolving cases for about 150 inmates awaiting sentencing in the coming days, he said.
Bennett said most of the inmates released last week are awaiting adjudication of their cases. The majority were being held for drug, traffic and property crimes that would likely land them on probation, if convicted.
Those inmates were ones that “could be released on bond without posing a community safety risk,” Bennett added.
“Murder, rape, aggravated kidnappings, child sex cases — we’re not talking about those.”
After concerns about the coronavirus heightened earlier this month, Bennett said he asked Sheriff’s Office administration for a list of all jail inmates that included 1,645 names and 1,689 district court cases.
After receiving the list on March 12, his office whittled it down to about 1,300 inmates who weren’t being held in the more severe-felony cases and started contacting defense attorneys.
Defense lawyers have also been working to get their clients released from jail amid COVID-19 concerns, court records show.
“We have gone through the low-hanging fruit first because that is the quickest relief value,” Bennett said.
But he was quick to add that the effort “is not a get out of jail free card.”
“This is a case by case assessment. We’re not just saying ‘yes’ to everybody.”
Bennett said his office also is “trying to be very careful about how many people we put back in” the jail as it files new criminal cases.
On Tuesday his office filed two new criminal cases when it usually would do 10 or 12 a day, he said.
The rest of the cases that would normally be charged are on hold for now.
“We’ve stopped putting more water in the bathtub at this point unless it’s violent crime,” he said.
Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay last week implemented a number of temporary protocols aimed at slowing spread of the disease in Wichita but warned that people “committing a crime and victimizing our citizens, particularly during this vulnerable time of a national health epidemic” would be arrested.
But it wasn’t immediately clear how or whether those protocols have impacted jail population numbers. Booking numbers appear to be down in recent days compared to the time before COVID-19 was a concern.
“Public safety is still our No. 1 priority and we’re using discretion and making arrests when appropriate,” Wichita police spokesman Officer Charley Davidson said.
Bennett said his goal in reducing the jail population isn’t centered on the number of inmates freed.
Rather, “it’s to give Jeff (Easter, the sheriff) enough space in his jail if people get sick” and “to make good use of the time and the resources we have” while the court’s shut down.
“There’s a humanitarian cost to inaction. But there’s also a fiscal cost” to caring for inmates who fall ill, he said.
“I think it’s in everyone’s best interest … that we work together, identify folks who are not a risk to the public and get them out as quickly as possible.”
Jail precautions
In the meantime, Sheriff Jeff Easter has sought to thwart introduction of the virus into the jail by shutting down its lobby, ramping up cleaning and keeping close tabs on inmate health.
On Monday, he announced it was closing public access to the jail until at least April 5. But the Sheriff’s Office started taking precautions at the beginning of March — before the first Kansas case was announced March 7, Capt. Jared Schechter said.
“I think everybody at least in the back of their mind has some concern and some fears about what’s out there, the unknown,” Schechter said.
“The inmates overall seem to be doing pretty well. We have been doing a lot of education with them, posting a lot of signs and talks with them about … what the symptoms are for COVID-19, so they know.”
Precautions started with emphasizing to inmate workers, who clean three times a day, to sanitize high-touch areas. New inmates were asked questions about travel history and any symptoms they have, Schechter said.
By March 13, the jail started checking temperatures. The nurse on staff 24/7 would be notified if anyone had a temperature over 100.4 degrees, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says indicates a fever.
A few days later, staff and visitors were required to have their temperature taken. Group meetings were also canceled going forward, eliminating most interfacility movement.
“The inmates not having those group gatherings … there is probably a little unrest,” Schechter said. “They enjoy going to chapel, they enjoy going to programming and classes and those things. There are some inmates I’m sure that are not as happy but we try to emphasize to them that they still have their dayrooms are open to them and they can still meet in small groups in their dayrooms to do their Bible studies or have other conversations or play games or those things.”
If someone does get infected, the jail has two clinical rooms with negative air pressure, meaning the air stays contained in the room. If more than two get infected, the jail will set up a designated housing unit as a quarantine area.
The jail’s facilities can hold roughly 1,406 inmates. On Tuesday, Schechter reported 1,444 inmates but more than 200 were being held out of the county to help with overcapacity.
The jail has 575 single-beds, meaning most of the inmates are in bunks or in a dormitory where the beds are a few feet apart — less than the recommended social distancing of 6 feet.
“I think we are prepared as we can be,” Schechter said. “Of course, we have concerns and I think every law enforcement agency does, every healthcare worker does right now is shortages in (masks). We have some but if things get out of control we would run a shortage here too.”
