Two deputies file complaint as coronavirus outbreak grows at Stanislaus County jail
Almost 100 inmates and staff at the Stanislaus County jail have tested positive for the coronavirus, as authorities deal with a growing outbreak.
The Sheriff’s Department is also facing criticism in a complaint that it’s not following its own protocols and mitigation measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 illness.
Authorities reported last week that 25 inmates and eight staff members were infected with the virus in a minimum security area of the jail on East Hackett Road. The numbers have grown to 75 inmates and 24 staff members who have tested positive, Sgt. Tom Letras said Tuesday.
Letras said the infections among inmates are still isolated to two housing pods in a minimum security area. None of the inmates with symptoms have required advanced medical treatment, he said.
Additional testing has shown no inmates are positive in a third housing pod in that same area of the jail.
In a recent complaint and grievance, two custodial deputies claim that coronavirus protocols are not taken seriously by sheriff supervisorial staff. The deputies have asked Cal OSHA to investigate.
The Nov. 5 complaint claims that basic protocols like face coverings and safe distancing were disregarded when custodial deputies were put through mandatory training exercises in October. According to the complaint, the two deputies who raised concerns were subject to retaliation by supervisors.
Deputies Ishmael Alvarez and Alvino Lopez filed the complaint with Cal OSHA and the state Labor Commissioner’s office.
Deputies who work in adult detention were required to take mandatory training in October, including four hours in hazardous materials and four hours in defensive tactics. The training was held at the Sheriff’s Office on East Hackett Road and the Ray Simon Regional Training Center.
Prior to the Oct. 10 training day, Alvarez and Lopez said staff members were not given pre-shift temperature checks and the screening was not offered to those attending the training. Deputies were not divided into smaller groups for the “hands-on” defensive tactics training. In addition, social distancing measures were not followed throughout the training day, the complaint alleges.
The department has policies in place to control COVID-19 by requiring face masks, temperature checks and social distancing measures.
Complaint charges masks not used in training
The complaint says that masks were not worn by anyone at the training, including instructors, even though a department memo strongly encouraged it. Because the training in defense tactics involved physical contact with other deputies, an infected person who was asymptomatic could have easily spread the virus.
“For defensive tactics training, we were told we would get sweaty during training and that everything would be hands on,” the complaint says.
The two deputies further allege the floor mats were not sanitized for the afternoon training session Oct. 10. After some staff members complained, the proper protective equipment was not provided when instructors told staff to clean the mats.
When some deputies took issue with the lack of safety protocols, the complaint says, instructors dismissed their grievances as “drama”. Alvarez and Lopez chose not to complete the training due to the lack of protocols. The only options offered to deputies who had concerns was to leave and make up the training on another day, the complaint says.
The two deputies also allege that Sheriff’s Department managers retaliated against them for raising the health and safety issues. Their retaliation complaint is being reviewed by the state Labor Commissioner’s office.
The claim of retaliation has to do with a meeting between the two deputies and two sergeants held Oct. 29. The deputies were summoned to the meeting and were served with a counseling memo saying they had violated department policy by not completing the training. According to the complaint, a sergeant at the Oct. 10 training had told the deputies they could make up the training at another time.
In a statement Tuesday, the two deputies said they are trained professionals and called attention to the safety lapses to protect the themselves, the people they serve, other staff members, their families and jail inmates. Though the training wasn’t held at the jail, the virus could have infected staff who regularly work with inmates, the deputies said.
“We have yet to hear back on how we can make up this training in accordance with Centers for Disease Prevention guidelines,” the deputies’ statement said. “We are just asking the department to do the right thing: maintain and improve the quality of health and safety within our department during an these unprecedented times and remove our counseling memos.”
The deputies said they learned this week the county cited a timing technicality in dismissing their in-house grievance filed under labor contract terms. They plan to go to arbitration on the retaliation charge.
Sheriff’s office says its serious about safety
Letras, who was designated as spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, said the department is serious about its safety protocols, but it was challenging to continue the mandatory defense training for custodial deputies during the pandemic. Letras said temperature checks were done before the training sessions held for 300 staff members on various dates in October.
It later came to the attention of sheriff’s administration that some deputies were overlooked for temperature checks, he said.
“That was an absolute oversight that the department has addressed,” Letras said. The vast majority of staff had temperature checks before the training, he added.
Alvarez and Lopez, who decided to make a public statement this week, stressed that no temperature checks were offered during their training.
Letras said enforcement of mask-wearing policies at the training days was complicated. After the sheriff’s office came out with the policy, Letras said the custodial deputies union expressed concern about strict enforcement of the face-covering policy.
Letras said the yearly defensive tactics training is mandatory so deputies are prepared for physical confrontations with inmates in custody. The COVID pandemic presented challenges because defensive tactics by nature involve physical contact with other people.
Efforts to make the training sessions safer this year included separating deputies into groups of two, Letras said. Some of the face-to-face defense techniques were eliminated from the training.
According to Letras, a few staff members at the Oct. 10 training said they didn’t feel comfortable and they were allowed to leave. They were told to reschedule the training.
As for the charge of retaliation, Letras said a counseling letter is not considered disciplinary action.
“There may have been some who slipped through the cracks (for temperature checks) but that has been addressed for all future training,” Letras said. “The department took reasonable steps to make the training as safe as possible.”
Screening is enhanced at county jail
Letras said the department is proud the county jail went for eight months without a significant outbreak of coronavirus, thanks to screening of inmates and staff before they enter the facility.
Starting Monday, the department went a step beyond with another safety procedure, Letras said. All employees entering the facility are given a rapid test onsite for COVID-19. If the 15-minute test comes back positive, the employee is sent home and has to take the standard PCR test to confirm the rapid test.
The county jail has medical staff for providing primary care for inmates who are sick. Any inmates who need diagnostic imaging, more advanced treatment or intensive care would be transferred to a local hospital, Letras said.
The jail’s medical unit is equipped for an inmate returning from the hospital with an intravenous line. It has isolation rooms for inmates with contagious diseases, Letras noted.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Two deputies file complaint as coronavirus outbreak grows at Stanislaus County jail."
