‘Tentative resolution’ reached in case alleging improper COVID practices at Shelby County Jail
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday, Dec. 23, that it has reached a “tentative resolution” in a lawsuit on behalf of several inmates at the Shelby County Jail related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Daily Memphian file)
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday, Dec. 23, that it has reached a “tentative resolution” in a lawsuit on behalf of several inmates at the Shelby County Jail related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the suit, the inmates allege the county failed to address grave “public health lapses” and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, leaving medically high-risk detainees vulnerable to contracting the virus.
Sheriff Floyd Bonner
The Sheriff’s Office said in a press release it would provide free access to cleaning products and soap, continue to provide two facial coverings for all inmates and quarantine new detainees for at least 14 days. The office will also offer tests to any inmate showing symptoms.
The press release also states that the jail is undergoing a ventilation system upgrade, designed to eliminate airborne viruses, and hopes to offer the coronavirus vaccine to all inmates in the coming months.
The agreement must be approved by the court.
“We are pleased that we have reached a tentative agreement with the sheriff’s office to improve conditions at the Shelby County Jail and make medically vulnerable people safer,” the ACLU of Tennessee said in a statement. “We look forward to this agreement being finalized and conditions being improved to better protect people at the jail during the pandemic.”
Filed May 20, the lawsuit requested immediate release of high-risk inmates “because testing, screening, social distancing and hygiene measures are deficient at the Jail...”
U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman denied that motion, stating the issues in the jail could likely be fixed.
An amended motion filed Sept. 15 alleged there were still several issues at the men’s jail, including lack of social distancing and testing practices.
“Jail officials in Shelby County have had copious time to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously, but have failed to do so,” Andrea Woods, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, said in a press release following the amendment.
At the time the amendment was filed, there were 231 recorded positive cases of COVID-19 among detainees and 162 among employees. Earlier this year, a corrections deputy died from complications of the virus.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office stated that it has taken steps to reduce the jail population, with about 400 fewer inmates than there were at the beginning of 2020.
Topics
COVID Shelby County Jail Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. coronavirus vaccine COVID vaccineDaja E. Henry
Daja E. Henry is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a graduate of Howard University and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and currently is a general assignment reporter.
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