A growing backlog of state inmates being held in county jails across Alabama has emerged as a major flashpoint in the fight against COVID-19, with Mobile County Metro Jail among the facilities most affected by the slowdown in transfers to state prisons.
Gov. Kay Ivey this week directed the Alabama Department of Corrections to develop a plan for addressing the thousands of state inmates who remain in county custody because of the pandemic. The directive came as part of a broader state of emergency proclamation aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 in ADOC facilities, while also responding to mounting pressure from county officials and sheriffs frustrated by the reduced pace of inmate transfers since March.
Beyond calling for a transfer plan, the proclamation guarantees counties reimbursement for the extra costs of housing and providing medical care to state inmates who would otherwise be in ADOC custody. It also extends liability protections to counties, sheriffs and their employees for claims that arise from those added responsibilities.
Ivey urged the department to return inmate intake to “pre-COVID-19 levels” as soon as conditions allow, though she stopped short of setting a firm timeline. Transfers into the state system have dropped sharply since ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn suspended new intakes in late March as part of an effort to limit outbreaks inside Alabama’s correctional facilities.
As of June 10, the state reported 83 ADOC employees and 27 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19, including two inmate deaths. While the department has resumed accepting some prisoner transfers since March 20, many inmates continue to sit in county jails, which are simultaneously trying to contain their own outbreaks.
Sonny Brassfield, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, said in a statement that the governor’s proclamation finally drew attention to what he called “a crisis that has been flying under the radar for the past 75 days.”
“The 3,000 state inmates in county jails today represent about 12 percent of the state’s total inmate population. We agree that backlogging inmates at the county level is unacceptable,” Brassfield said. “The presence of so many state inmates clearly puts every jail at risk of an outbreak of COVID-19, in the same way the state prison system is at risk. Sheriffs in Alabama have done a remarkable job of adjusting to the new safety concerns in the face of the state’s decision not to accept inmates as required by Alabama law and the Alabama Supreme Court.”
The backlog has been felt acutely at Mobile County Metro Jail, where officials have spent weeks managing a local COVID-19 outbreak with less room to isolate and quarantine potentially sick or infected inmates because of the added state prisoners taking up space.
At last count, more than 50 Metro Jail inmates and 30 corrections officers had tested positive for the virus. Metro Jail Warden Trey Oliver said case numbers rose after the city of Mobile offered to help screen all jail employees last month, though he noted the number of active cases has been trending downward in recent weeks.
Oliver said Metro Jail is currently holding 265 state inmates who, under normal circumstances, would have already been transferred into ADOC custody. Some of those inmates, he said, are being held for probation violations and have already served longer than their original sentences because of the state’s ongoing transfer backlog.
County officials say the situation underscores the strain the pandemic has placed on local jails statewide, many of which were not designed to hold state inmates for extended periods and now face added public health risks as a result. With ADOC facilities and county jails both working to prevent further spread of the virus, local leaders continue to press the state for a clear timeline on resolving the backlog.