Leaders, activists call for action amid COVID-19 in jail; sheriff says he's doing his best

A state representative and local activists this week called for greater transparency and accountability at the Greene County jail as it continues grappling with a COVID-19 outbreak.

On Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, joined representatives from Black Lives Matter, the NAACP and the ACLU to call for the sheriff's department and other criminal justice officials to release information more frequently, reduce the number of inmates held and better protect those remaining.

Sheriff Jim Arnott responded in an interview by saying he’s not sure what more he can do.

More than 100 inmates had tested positive for the virus as of Friday, according to the the sheriff’s department, including two more since Monday. 71 have recovered in the four weeks since the first case was announced, but at least one inmate remains in the hospital.

And at this point, activists said the best way to address the problem is to have fewer people inside.

For years, Greene County has booked in more inmates than the maximum occupancy of about 750 allows. Officials usually deal with the difference by contracting with other, less crowded jails and shipping people out to those facilities.

But Arnott said the pandemic has taken away that outsourcing option, leaving Greene County to deal with overcrowding on its own, which at times means having 100 more people in the jail than it was built to hold.

Arnott said his staff is making do with what they have by putting three inmates in two-bunk cells and requiring one person to sleep in a makeshift bed on the floor.

Infectious disease experts say crowding any number of people together in a small space can increase the likelihood a sick person spreads the disease to the people nearby.

But Arnott described the close quarters in the jail as unavoidable at this point.

"I have no ability to do anything else," Arnott said. "It's like running a hotel, except it doesn't matter if there's no vacancy or not, you always have to have room for people whether you want them or not."

They’re also working with a limited number of staff members to supervise inmates due to 46 infections among their own ranks, leading them to keep inmates in their cells for most of the day. The action also serves as a precaution against potential spread of the virus, Arnott said.

"We've had to eliminate as much inmate movement as possible because of staffing and to (stop) anybody from being around people that may be positive," he said.

To solve those problems, the ACLU and other organizations have called on law enforcement, prosecutors and judges to re-evaluate who is booked into jail and whether they should be let out on bond in order to reduce overcrowding.

An ACLU report also noted that jails are often filled with mostly people awaiting trial and therefore increases the possibility that if they are let out on bond, they could spread the virus into the community.

"Jails, in particular, also act as vectors for infection in their surrounding communities," it says. "Jails are revolving doors for incarceration and face 10.7 million admissions each year."

Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson said in an interview earlier this month his office had already been working with the sheriff's Fugitive Apprehension Unit, which handles warrants, to identify people who might be good candidates for a bond review.

He said they've also "modified" their approach in deciding when they would request warrants on people, though he declined to offer specifics.

"The reason for either holding someone in the jail or release on a bond is to ensure the appearance of the individual and protect the public," he said. "Given the situation at the jail, we have to take more risks than we might otherwise normally."

In order to make sure people show up for court, judges may require people to wear a GPS or alcohol monitoring bracelet or put other conditions of release on them.

But Patterson said there are other ways to get people out of jail that don't involve bond reductions.

"We also try to resolve cases, whether that means the person being placed on probation or being sent to prison," he said. "We've got to keep things moving."

Mo Del Villar with the Missouri ACLU acknowledged the jail had lowered its population by "double-digit percentages" since the pandemic started, but she said more needed to be done.

She called for the release of people who are particularly at-risk of catching COVID-19, urged judges to reduce cash bond requests that target the poor and encouraged sentence commutations for people who were particularly vulnerable to suffering the worst effects of the virus.

"We know we can make changes for the better," she said.

Activists also called for more information to be released about what’s going on the jail in the meantime.

In recent weeks after the outbreak began, sheriff's department officials announced they would only release information about the number of infections twice a week.

They have also declined to say how many tests the department has conducted since the outbreak began.

"That is a disservice to the public," said local activist Renee Goodwin in the press conference. "So often when we try to push for these issues, this is the response we get. That’s not fair to the public and that’s not fair to the inmates in the jail or their families who are worried about them."

Sheriff Arnott said in an interview he "wasn't sure how much more transparent we can be." He said he didn't see the utility in releasing daily case counts because they change and noted his office reports the numbers to the health department each day.

(The health department has deferred to the sheriff's office to release information about the specific number of cases at the jail.)

Arnott said regardless of the numbers, he's doing the best he can to contain a virus that spreads quickly in enclosed spaces occupied by a lot of people.

"You can only do what you can do," he said. "We've done a good job of keeping it out as of this point. We've booked 7,000 people in since March and we've been able to mitigate it up until August. Everyone was amazed that we've made it this far."

But Quade said the sheriff hadn't done enough, noting that inmates weren't given masks until after the first case of the virus was reported earlier this month and contending the masks aren't changed out frequently enough.

"We know this has not been handled properly," she said. "With this latest outbreak and these inhumane conditions, we have to keep this issue in the spotlight."

Katie Kull covers local government for the News-Leader. Got a story to tell? Give her a call at 417-408-1025 or email her at kkull@news-leader.com. You can also support local journalism at News-Leader.com/subscribe.