GREELEY – The way the Weld County jail handled the coronavirus pandemic has violated its inmates’ constitutional rights, a judge ruled.
Judge Philip Brimmer found Monday that Sheriff Steve Reams failed to take adequate measures to protect inmates and that the “plaintiffs are entitled to a limited preliminary injunction to ameliorate those conditions,” the Greeley Tribune reported.
The ruling came after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of several inmates who considered themselves to be in the high-risk category of those susceptible to COVID-19.
The coronavirus first reached inside the jail in mid-March, court officials said.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
Reams has not instituted any specific precautions to protect medically vulnerable inmates, Brimmer concluded. “Despite knowing of that elevated risk, (Reams) has not ordered the Jail’s medical staff to identify those inmates who are medically vulnerable to COVID-19. As a result, (Reams) is not aware of how many inmates within the Jail are medically vulnerable, and he doesn’t not know which inmates those are.”
The lawsuit argued the jail violated the inmates’ Eighth Amendment right, prohibiting excessive bail, excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment.
Reams argued against claims that the jail was mishandling the coronavirus, claiming several measures that had been put in place included screenings, visitor limitation and instituting a policy of family units where inmates spent time exclusively within their own small groups.
Neither Reams nor his office were immediately available for comment.
Brimmer ordered Reams to take several steps including instituting new policies inside the jail to curtail the spread of the coronavirus and compile a list of “medically vulnerable inmates” currently held at the jail.
