{"id":89982,"date":"2020-03-20T00:55:26","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T06:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-jail-shrinks-population-to-reduce-risk-of-covid-19-outbreak\/"},"modified":"2020-03-20T00:55:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T06:55:26","slug":"la-plata-county-jail-shrinks-population-to-reduce-risk-of-covid-19-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-jail-shrinks-population-to-reduce-risk-of-covid-19-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"La Plata County Jail shrinks population to reduce risk of COVID-19 outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The inmate population at the La Plata County jail shrank by 25 individuals from Monday to Wednesday. Law enforcement has been working with attorneys and judges to reduce the jail population to decrease the risk of a potential COVID-19 outbreak.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

La Plata County Jail is crowded, just the kind of environment public health officials and governments have been warning against for almost a week in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus causing COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Local judges, attorneys and law enforcement have collaborated in the past week to reduce the number of people incarcerated in La Plata County, according to interviews with agency leaders.<\/p>\n

In a letter to state officials<\/a>, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and a number of criminal defense organizations requested immediate action Tuesday to reduce jail and prison populations statewide.<\/p>\n

The population at the jail shrank from 201 on Monday to 176 on Wednesday as officials worked to identify and release at-risk inmates who pose a low risk to the community, said jail Capt. Ed Aber.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the reduction that we\u2019ve experienced in jail population this week, we\u2019re able to start moving some cell blocks around to free up more space for the eventuality that people have been exposed to or have the coronavirus,\u201d Aber said in an interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Inmates
Inmates at the La Plata County Jail have been asked to practice social distancing, something that\u2019s difficult \u2013 and near impossible \u2013 in the confined pods and cells at the jail.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Heightened precautions<\/div>\n

Operations at the La Plata County Courthouse have largely ground to a halt, led by an order from 6th Judicial Chief Judge Jeffery Wilson, who oversees courts in La Plata, Archuleta and San Juan counties:<\/p>\n

All trials have been reset to a date after May 15, unless it directly affects public safety.<\/em>The murder trial of Mark Redwine, which was scheduled to begin April 2, is now scheduled to begin on May 26.<\/em>Judges will hear cases only for advisement on charges and consideration of bail, emergency protection orders and juvenile custody matters, unless Judge Wilson determines otherwise, until April 3.<\/em>People on probation required to meet with a probation officer face to face may now communicate by telephone or email.<\/em>The La Plata County Jail is also taking extra precautions:<\/p>\n

Access to the jail has been restricted to essential personnel. <\/em>All work-release sentences have been postponed until health risks subside. <\/em>Religious and library services have been suspended.<\/em>Inmates appear in court by video rather than in person.<\/em>Co-pays for medical services could be waived in the case of an outbreak. <\/em>\u201cUnder emergency circumstances, we have a job to do, and we will figure out how to make that happen,\u201d Aber said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that we\u2019re aware of; we\u2019re preparing for it the best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"La
La Plata County Jail has restricted all but essential employees at the facility. That includes canceling services run by volunteers, including the library and religious services.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Release from jail<\/div>\n

The 6th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office is reviewing cases of people incarcerated in the jail to identify at-risk individuals \u2013 people who are older, have underlying medical conditions or compromised immune systems, said District Attorney Christian Champagne.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors are working to reduce bail for at-risk individuals, allowing them to go free as their case proceeds through the system. They have also offered at-risk individuals sentenced to jail a chance to either reduce their sentence or move to an out-of-custody, home-detention environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want, of course, people to be held accountable and accept responsibility,\u201d Champagne said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not appropriate to put people in harm\u2019s way in terms of a public health emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sixth
Sixth Judicial District Attorney Christian Champagne said his office is working to identify at-risk individuals who might be eligible for release from the La Plata County Jail. Prosecutors have offered lower bond amounts and reduced or modified sentences for people who are older, have underlying health conditions or have compromised immune systems.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Victims are notified and given an opportunity to address the court before an inmate\u2019s release, Champagne said. Prosecutors must consider a number of factors, including an inmate\u2019s criminal history, the severity of the charge for which they\u2019re incarcerated, their living situation and the availability of support systems for inmates released.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s complicated,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on it for about a week really intensively. There\u2019s been great cooperation across the judicial branch and criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summons to court<\/div>\n

The 6th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office requested local law enforcement to serve court summons rather than arrest people for low-level offenses. Police officers and deputies have been asked to issue summons for drug offenses and low-level felonies, as long as individuals do not pose a risk to the public.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement still must arrest people for domestic violence as required by Colorado law, Champagne said.<\/p>\n

\"Inmates
Inmates with symptoms of COVID-19 at La Plata County Jail have been asked to check in with the jail\u2019s medical services. While using the service may require a co-pay from people incarcerated, the jail has the authority to waive fees for treatment, Capt. Ed Aber said.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Durango Police Department is asking anyone reporting a crime to do so by telephone or by using the department\u2019s online reporting system. Mass closures in the community, including Durango School District 9-R\u2019s extended cancellation, has made more officers available for the short-staffed agency, said Chief Bob Brammer.<\/p>\n

But the department is preparing for an inevitable infection among its ranks, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, we will still provide the highest level of service we can, but we need to understand there will be some delays in some responses, and we may request people file reports online and by telephone,\u201d he said. \u201cOur goal is to have people on the street, be highly visible and let our community know we\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n

bhauff@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

enforcement, attorneys and judges working to get people out of incarceration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,133,867,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-89982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-courts","tag-la-plata-county-courthouse","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89982"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=89982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}