MILPITAS – The number of inmates in Santa Clara County infected with COVID-19 increased by 36 in a single day, almost doubling the count of active detention cases and reaching a sharp peak recorded since New Year’s Eve, according to data from Dad Noel Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
On Tuesday, an online panel maintained by the sheriff’s office showed 74 active cases in custody in county prisons and more than 60 new cases since December 31. Most of the increase took place at the Elmwood men’s prison in Milpitas, in units with dormitory settings, where both prison inmates and prison officials say that physical detachment is impractical and often impossible.
Sheriff Sergeant Michael Low confirmed that most new infections were reported in the M8 ward in Elmwood, which has four 68-bed modules. Men detained in these wings said two of the M8 dormitories had been completely emptied, with inmates being relocated to quarantine units elsewhere in the property, including at least one section of the women’s prison.
Low said the sheriff’s office is conducting contact tracking to determine the source of the outbreak, but so far has not identified the source or sources.
“We are doing everything in our power to mitigate the spread of this contagious virus and protect the health and safety of everyone at our facility and the community,” wrote Low via email.
But several inmates and their relatives have contacted this news organization in recent days to repeat chronic complaints they have expressed about the conditions of the prison in the midst of the pandemic, including, but not limited to, modest clothing, lack of cleaning supplies and inconsistent adherence to the basic principles of COVID-19 security protocols.
A man detained at an M8 unit said that they still see prison officers without masks and that it is normal to see food carts being transported between housing units without being disinfected. He added that the lack of supplies made prisoners use their own towels or even their clothes to clean their spaces.
“We see many violations of the cleaning protocols,” said the man, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. “We definitely feel insecure.”
Other prisoners and their relatives continue to echo the concerns of public defenders and other defenders about the coexistence between prisoners from quarantined and non-quarantined units during transportation to and from the court. A woman who says her husband is quarantined in Elmwood says that given that prisoners have limited movement and where they can go, officials and other prison visitors have been neglected as vectors for introducing the virus into custody.
The woman, who also asked not to be identified for reasons of retaliation to her husband, alluded to a report by this agency about a holiday party involving correctional deputies that violated the collection restrictions and the protocols for distancing and wearing masks, which coincided with an increase in prison delegate infections and an outbreak in Wing 7B of the Main Prison involving about 30 inmates.
“I strongly believe that the guards who gathered for the holidays contributed to this major outbreak within the facility,” she said.
To date, the sheriff’s office has registered more than 360 custody-related COVID-19 infections, according to its data published online. As coronavirus cases continue to increase in the Bay Area and across the state, county prisons have been anything but immune, with previous peaks that included nearly 100 inmates over a two-week period between July and August at the Elmwood and an increase in the number of Wing 5B of the Main Chain in July.