Protesters demand that officials reduce jail population to prevent spread of COVID-19
A coalition of activists, attorneys and community leaders held a “moving protest” demanding a reduction in Mecklenburg County’s jail population due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic on Friday.
Around 25 relentlessly honking cars drove in a single-file loop in Uptown Charlotte that passed the county detention center, the county courthouse and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters. Signs taped on the cars read, “Misdemeanor should not be a death sentence” and “Let my people go.”
The protest was organized by Decarcerate Mecklenburg, a group of activists, lawyers and community leaders who gathered at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to advocate for those in jails and prisons. The group — which includes lawyers from the Public Defender’s Office as well as members of the Bail Project and the N.C. American Civil Liberties Union — has asked officials to reduce the jail population for the safety of inmates due to the spread of COVID-19.
Specifically, the group has requested that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police issue citations instead of arresting people charged with misdemeanors and low-level felonies.
Another request of the group is that the county detention center reduce its population by releasing those with less than six months of time left, those who have been issued bail but cannot afford it, and people who are vulnerable to COVID-19, such as the elderly or immunocompromised.
Some jail and prison changes
While the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office has said there are no reported cases of COVID-19 among inmates at the Mecklenburg jail — the largest county detention facility in the state — two employees have tested positive for the virus.
While screening for symptoms, one employee, who later tested positive for the virus, was sent home at the start of a shift. The Sheriff’s Office has also suspended all in-person visitation.
Containing the virus has proved difficult in North Carolina prisons. As of Wednesday, 34 prisoners in the state have tested positive. Nineteen of them are in the same facility in Eastern North Carolina.
At the end of March, Mecklenburg Acting District Court Judge Elizabeth Trosch issued an order to suspend orders for arrest for most misdemeanors, excluding ones that involve domestic violence and violence against children.
In March, CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano said that the department will follow Judge Trosch’s order. But CMPD was not planning any other changes in enforcement to reduce the jail population, he said.
“It would be irresponsible for the CMPD to stop our crime fighting efforts as our community continues to experience victimization of crime during the pandemic,” Tufano wrote in an email to the Observer.
But members of Decarcerate Mecklenburg say the order from District Court is not enough, and Charlotte lawyer Tim Emry said there are still people in the Mecklenburg County Detention Center on misdemeanor charges.
Concern over close quarters
Experts have said that prisons and jails are vulnerable to infectious diseases because inmates live closely together.
An ACLU organizer, Kristie Puckett Williams, said jails are “turnstiles” when it comes to people since, unlike the prison population, people are often there for shorter periods of time. Why not release them when these people often have communities, families and jobs to return to, she said.
Puckett WIlliams, who has spent time in jail herself, said the jail population is uniquely vulnerable to the virus since many people who are incarcerated already have underlying health conditions and jails have poor access to healthcare.
Bail Project Organizer Jamie Marsicano said jails spread diseases faster, which impacts everyone once those people are released back into society.
“We’re just bringing awareness to the fact that on a good day, nothing happens. On a bad day, death is going to happen,” Puckett Williams said.
Charlotte lawyer Tim Emry said he primarily represents people who are low-income and said that his clients in jail are frightened.
“There’s no ability to socially distance. They don’t have masks,” Emry said. “So they feel like they’re sitting ducks. They feel like no one cares.”
Emry said he has been frustrated by the barriers to release those in jails and that there isn’t a system-wide approach. He said he was only able to get a 68-year-old client out of the County Detention Center after working with the District Attorney’s office and managing to get a judge’s signature during limited courthouse hours.
“If the person is safe enough to be out on probation … why are they not safe enough to be out when they’re presumed innocent and haven’t admitted to anything? There’s a disconnect,” he said.
This story was originally published April 11, 2020 at 12:14 PM.
