One Miami jail has 159 inmates positive for coronavirus as contagion spreads behind bars
At least 159 inmates in just one Miami-Dade jail have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the county revealed in court documents filed over the weekend.
The number is a significant jump from the 59 inmates — from all three county jails — with COVID-19 that the Miami-Dade Corrections department reported to the media one week ago. The increase of virus-stricken inmates comes amid expanded testing throughout the jail system: over 700 inmates have been tested, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.
The scope of the viral outbreak at the Metro West Detention Center was revealed in court documents filed Saturday as part of a lawsuit filed by a group of inmates seeking their release from the jail because of conditions behind bars.
Officials also revealed that nearly 400 inmates at Metro West “are being quarantined as a result of possible exposure to another individual who has COVID-19 or who has exhibited COVID-19 symptoms,” the county attorney’s office wrote. In all, 485 inmates there have been tested.
Seventy-two Metro West staff members have also been tested, of which 16 have tested positive.
Across the country, jails and prisons — where social distancing is difficult because of tight quarters — have struggled to contain the spread of the highly contagious respiratory virus. New York City’s Rikers Island detention complex, for one, has been particularly hard hit, with over 300 inmates and 700 staff members contracting the illness.
Exactly how many inmates from the Miami-Dade County’s two others jails, the Pre-Trial Detention Center and the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, have contracted the disease caused by novel coronavirus was unclear Monday.
More than 3,200 inmates in three jails remain locked up, according to county statistics.
One Metro West inmate, Oscar Zepulveda, 30, told his wife that he began feeling sick last week. On Saturday, he was informed of the positive test — he’s now quarantined with others stricken with COVID-19 inside unit 3A1.
“He’s got shortness of breath and coughing. He hasn’t hit the fever part of it yet. He just wants to lay down,” said his wife, Ashley Diaz, who spoke to him on Monday. “He sounds really scared.”
Another Metro West inmate, who has not been tested yet but is not feeling sick, told the Miami Herald on Monday that he recently visited the clinic for an unrelated issue and found the scene “chaotic.” His dorm is not yet quarantined.
“We all know we’re going to get infected,” said the inmate, who asked his name not be used. “I have no doubt in my mind there’s already coronavirus people here already.”
Although South Florida jails have lowered their populations drastically to curb the spread of the coronavirus, close quarters and security challenges make social distancing difficult. Civil rights groups, such as the Dream Defenders, which filed the lawsuit, say the jails remain a “petri dish” for infections and accuse officials of underreporting positive tests.
“We now have confirmation that the virus is spreading like wildfire inside Metro West, and hundreds of presumptively innocent people are trapped inside the jail. This is a public health emergency,” said a statement issued by GST, one of the law firms working with the Dream Defenders on the suit.
The Miami-Dade jail system has only intermittently released details on positive tests among the ranks of inmates and corrections officers.
In contrast, the Florida prison system — which has undergone intense criticism over reporting of COVID-19 cases — has introduced expanded daily updates on its website, including information on how many inmates are being isolated over infection concerns.
A Miami-Dade jails spokesman did not return a request Monday for updated statistics on inmates sick with COVID-19.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 9:27 AM.