Read Our Complete Coverage The Coronavirus Crisis Formerly incarcerated people say that’s likely a significant undercount, citing a lack of distancing and testing that have allowed the virus to spread rapidly, sometimes undetected by jail staff. Yet despite the initially diminished population, LA County jails have been near or exceeding capacity for the entirety of the pandemic - the current population is over 15,300 - and nearly 4,300 incarcerated people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the congregate settings, according to the sheriff’s department. Because of such efforts, the LA County jail system, the largest in the country, initially reduced its daily population by about 5,000, getting below its current state-rated capacity of 12,404 for the first time on average in nearly four decades. In the early months of the pandemic, local authorities across the United States took measures to significantly reduce jail populations in an effort to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. “And it’s impossible, it’s just not realistic.” “These systems want to operate and exist the same way that they did pre-Covid,” said Gloria Gonzalez, youth development coordinator at Youth Justice Coalition LA. The best way to quell the chaos, advocates say, is by further depopulating the jails, especially by releasing those being held on bail they can’t afford, so incarcerated people aren’t constantly exposed to the coronavirus. On the whole, the spread of Covid-19 inside LA County jails - a situation, currently incarcerated and recently released people say, the sheriff’s department is mismanaging - as well as delays in the courts, are wreaking havoc on the criminal legal system. Meanwhile, the percentage of jailed Black people who had been in custody for six months or longer jumped from 36 to 44 percent, a larger increase than other racial groups.

According to sheriff’s department data gathered by data scientist and activist Roger Pharr and analyzed by UCLA School of Law student researchers, the share of people incarcerated in the county jails who are Black or Hispanic had increased six months into the pandemic, while the percentage of white people decreased. These delays have likely exacerbated inequities embedded in the criminal legal system. And halted jury trials are keeping many who maintain their innocence stuck in indefinite detention. Meanwhile, a pause in transfers from county to state custody has created confusion regarding people’s sentences, which may be keeping some people past their expected release dates. Jail quarantines can also lead to missed appointments, which prevent people from accessing treatment programs that could lead to release, according to LA County defense attorneys. “These systems want to operate and exist the same way that they did pre-Covid. And it’s impossible, it’s just not realistic.” In most cases, they can’t speak with their lawyers until the LA County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jails, gives the all-clear. In quarantine, those incarcerated in LA County jails are stripped of what little freedoms and amenities they have, such as freedom of movement within their housing unit, access to hot meals, and communication with the outside world. In a 2020 survey, more than four out of five respondents in the jails who hadn’t been convicted of a crime - around half of the people normally incarcerated by the county - said they had missed court dates because of coronavirus-related restrictions. He is one of likely thousands of people incarcerated in LA County jails who have missed court dates since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Near constant lockdown meant that Lopez didn’t reappear in court until 12 weeks after his arraignment, with proceedings such as a preliminary hearing - usually held within 10 days of arraignment to determine whether there’s enough evidence to hold someone on felony charges - rescheduled eight times in the weeks after he entered the jail, according to an online court register. “I missed so many court dates because of their negligence.” “We were getting quarantine after quarantine after quarantine after quarantine,” Lopez said. A few days after the unit was taken off quarantine, the jail announced further exposure and another lockdown, he said - a pattern that would repeat several times during Lopez’s five months in jail, as people were continuously transported in and out of the crowded facilities. Lopez was locked in his cell, which he estimates was 6-by-12 feet at most, with three bunkmates, effectively around the clock for almost two months. There was possible Covid-19 exposure, jail administrators said, so everyone needed to quarantine. Just days after Gabriel Lopez entered Los Angeles County’s Men’s Central Jail in late April 2020, his housing unit was placed on lockdown.

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