LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The novel coronavirus is spreading through Louisville’s jail, and union leaders are concerned the current strategy is not working to protect inmates or staff.
When the pandemic first started to hit Louisville in March, criminal justice partners coordinated to release hundreds of low-level offenders to the home incarceration program in order to prevent the spread of the virus inside Metro Corrections. The jail also started to quarantine any income inmates for seven days before assigning them to general population.
“We were hoping that was going to help us out,” said Daniel Johnson, the president of Louisville Corrections Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 77. “And I think it did for a while. And it bought us some time. But now, we found ourselves in a position that we really need to be looking at other measures.”
Since March, thousands of coronavirus tests have been administered to inmates and hundreds to staff members. Johnson said as of Wednesday, 130 inmates tested positive, and 50 tests were still pending. He said that number jumped from 70 to 130 in less than a week.
The union president said 56 staff members tested positive as of Wednesday, with 20 of those cases in quarantine and one person in the ICU.
Coronavirus statistics are slightly different from Metro Corrections, which compiles data to report every two weeks. The jail’s assistant director Steve Durham provided the most recent set of data from July 27 through Aug. 10, which is slightly less than the numbers provided by Johnson from Aug. 12. Durham added that 87 inmates were in medical isolation as of Monday and that the majority of the positive cases were asymptomatic.
Johnson said that staff members are trying to keep inmates testing positive in the same dorms, but there are now dorms spread out on every floor of the new jail with coronavirus. He believes this is helping the virus spread more quickly.
“The issue we’re running into now is confined space,” Johnson said. “So on each floor of the jail, there are at least one or two areas that are COVID positive. We have a closed air system inside our facility. So you could be in Dorm 1 in a COVID positive dorm, and the air is eventually going to pass through Dorms 2 and 3.”
Johnson suggested to better isolate inmates and protect those in high-risk categories, the city should consider reopening the Community Corrections Center on East Chestnut Street, which was shut down in March. The union president said it would require officers to work overtime to properly staff the facility, but he argued that’s a better option than allowing the virus to spread and a potentially kill someone.
“Stop thinking about the cost savings of CCC being closed,” he said. “Open that facility up. Test these inmates and staff members regularly. And use that area as our safe zone.”
Durham said that idea is not a possibility because of staff limitations. He said the jail is trying to avoid further impacting staff.
“They’re burdened enough,” Durham said. “If we stretch the staff thinner, it would be harmful to everyone and more stress on the inmates and the staff.”
The assistant director said the jail is working to find new, creative ways to better separate the inmates, but he pointed out it takes time to make any moves because of all the logistics involved. As of Monday, there were 1,238 inmates inside the jail, which can hold a maximum of 1,353 people. Durham said in order for the jail to be able to safely move inmates, the jail population would need to drop by at least 250.
Metro Corrections leaders have asked criminal justice partners to consider releasing more inmates on the home incarceration program to free up space. Durham said the state also made a commitment this week to the jail to start moving some of the state inmates from Metro Corrections to other jails or prisons. There are currently about 300 state inmates house inside Louisville’s jail.
Durham said he expects the jail “could be at a better place to manage” in three or four weeks. The union president is worried that by then it’ll be too little too late.
“I think we’ve reached a point that if we don’t do something different now, it’s only a matter of time before everybody gets it,” said Johnson.
The Metro Corrections FOP filed a grievance in May regarding staff health and safety concerns during the pandemic. Durham said the jail received the grievance and is in the process of addressing it.
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