Twenty-two inmates at Denver’s two jails are under observation after showing symptoms consistent with the novel coronavirus, but none have been tested, Denver Health officials confirmed Friday.
Fourteen of the inmates are under observation at the Denver Downtown Detention Facility’s medical unit and eight are under observation at the county jail on Smith Road, Denver Health spokeswoman Heather Burke said in an email. Denver Health provides medical care for the the city’s two jails, where approximately 2,000 people are incarcerated on an average day.
All of the inmates under observation showed a symptom consistent with COVID-19, the disease given by the virus. But the symptoms do not qualify the inmates to be tested, Burke said. Due to a lack of available tests, Denver Health is restricting testing to people who need hospital admission due to serious complications from the disease and health care workers.
Daria Serna, spokeswoman for the Denver Sheriff Department, referred questions about the inmates and their treatment to Denver Health and the city’s joint information center set up in response to the virus.
“It’s a grim situation going on right now,” said Mike Britton, vice president of the Denver sheriff deputies’ union.
The quarantines come as leaders of Denver’s criminal justice system work to reduce the jails’ populations and limit the booking of new inmates.
Denver police Chief Paul Pazen said Monday that his officers are instructed to issue summons instead of making arrests on many low-level crimes to avoid unnecessarily booking people into the jail. Prosecutors in the Denver District Attorney’s Office are instructed to agree to bonds that allow low-risk defendants to be free while their court cases continues. And the top judge in Denver’s courts on Friday issued an order asking judges to review cases and release inmates who have less than 30 days left on their sentence or are at a heightened risk of health complications, where possible.
Medical staff and deputies working in the most medically high-risk areas of the jails have access to face masks, Burke said, but the facilities are not exempt from a lack of protective gear plaguing the city and the country.
“The Denver Sheriff Department like most law enforcement and public safety agencies are working through the shortage of N95 masks across the country,” Burke said.
