Fullerton Will Not Join Sheriff Barnes’ Opposition to COVID-19 Inmate Release/Transfer Order
Fullerton City Council voted 3-2 at a special meeting on December 21 to not join an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in support of OC Sheriff Barnes’s opposition to releasing or transferring jail inmates. Barnes is fighting a recent a court order requiring a 50% reduction of the inmate population in group living areas because of spiking inmate COVID-19 cases due to the vulnerability of inmates living in congregate settings.
This court order was prompted by both recommendations from the OC Health Care Agency and a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of Orange County inmates, alleging that inmates should be released because they are medically vulnerable and at imminent risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19.