In race to respond to coronavirus, Pierce County can’t forget vulnerable jail inmates

One sure sign of the severe Puget Sound coronavirus impact are the changes coming fast and furious to the criminal justice system.

Last week officials made the wise decision to suspend all Pierce County Superior Court jury trials until after April 24. The same goes for all criminal custody matters with the exception of first appearances, arraignments, pleas and sentencings.

Virtual justice delivered via video screen used to be the stuff of dystopian science fiction. Not so anymore; for the first time, Superior Court judges will be scheduling criminal hearings via telephone or video appearances. Family court is following a similar script.

The goal is public safety in the courtrooms, but what about the risk of COVID-19 infection to inmates in the Pierce County jail? Close-quarter lockups don’t exactly allow for social distancing or isolation. If judges are suspending trials, shouldn’t they be equally concerned about the welfare of jail inmates?

According to Sheriff Paul Pastor, it’s mostly business as usual inside the county jail so far.

“We already had medical screenings in place. We already have a doctor on staff,” Pastor told a member of our Editorial Board Wednesday.

During a fast-moving global pandemic, that approach may not be good enough. If the county really wants to prevent an outbreak in its jail, every person issued an orange jumpsuit should be tested and isolated — certainly those at higher risk of transmission or complications from the illness.

We acknowledge it’s a moonshot request for now, but as coronavirus tests become more widely available, it’s a practice the jail should adopt.

Pierce County doesn’t want to duplicate the scene in New York City, where a coronavirus outbreak in a city jail threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system and put law enforcement in further danger.

Obviously, the first line of defense is reducing the jail population. To that end, Pastor says local officers and deputies have helped by citing and releasing offenders apprehended for low-level misdemeanors.

It also helps that residential burglary crimes are down. Thieves apparently know better than to break and enter while homebound residents are sitting on the couch watching Netflix.

Pastor says before COVID-19 made daily headlines, most of Pierce County’s 1,150 jail beds were occupied, but current count puts occupancy at about 820, most of whom Pastor says are felons. The sheriff says anyone in custody exhibiting symptoms of the virus can and will get tested, but so far none have tested positive.

But it’s only a matter of time before coronavirus infiltrates the county jail, as it already has in lockdown facilities such as Western State Hospital. At that point, the county may be forced to do what others have done: Release inmates in droves.

In King County, the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention has decreased its number of incarcerated by more than 300. Its goal is to get the population at King County’s adult correctional facilities to about 1,200 so it can provide single bunks for all in custody, as advised by public health officers.

Over the weekend in New Jersey, the Chief Justice signed an order to release up to 1,000 inmates.

And last week, Los Angeles released more than 1,700 prisoners, about 6 percent of the incarcerated population, over fears the virus could spread like wildfire in dense prison conditions.

Pastor rightly cites public safety concerns as the reason Pierce County hasn’t taken drastic measures like early release. The sheriff, who is postponing his planned early-April retirement until the coronavirus crisis is under control, says the county must be careful in its next steps.

At the very least, inmates jailed for probation violations or low-level non-violent crimes could be reevaluated on a case-by-case basis.

When asked about inmates sitting in cells because they couldn’t post bail, Pastor said, “We’re working on bail reform, and we have been working on that.”

Pierce County is in a race against time and a deadly disease; officials are going to have to work fast.