ACLU sues El Paso County Sheriff over jail’s COVID-19 precautions

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has filed a lawsuit against El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder for his how he handled the spread of COVID-19 in his jail.

More than 1,000 El Paso County jail inmates tested positive for coronavirus in a late October outbreak, according to public health leaders.

The ACLU lawsuit claims Sheriff Elder "acted with deliberate indifference by failing to provide masks" for inmates until late October and early November after two-thirds of the jail population tested positive for COVID-19.

The lawsuit claims that El Paso County inmates with COVID-19 symptoms are not separated from those who have tested negative for the virus or do not have symptoms.

"Defendant Elder had failed over a period of months and months to provide masks to inmates in their wards despite knowing masks are a simple, cheap, and effective way to prevent spread of the virus and mitigate its impact. Inmates who were being transported to court got masks during transport, but they were required to discard those masks before returning to their housing units. Inmates who made masks for themselves out of sheets or underwear risked disciplinary infractions," the lawsuit states.

The ACLU also took aim at how the El Paso County Sheriff's Office used $13.6 million federal funding from the CARES Act saying Elder could have used some of the funds to provide inmates masks.

"While Defendant Elder broke ground on multi-million dollar construction—such as renovating the staff locker room, buying new security cameras, remodeling a training facility, remodeling offices, and buying a “property conveyor” machine— human beings in jail sat helpless and without even a simple cloth mask to protect them from the looming spread of this potentially deadly virus," attorneys wrote.

The ACLU is seeking a judge to require better medical care for those who fall ill and two free cloth masks for all inmates in the El Paso County jail.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said on Monday that it does not comment on pending litigation.

The outbreak at the jail is still ongoing, with 14 inmates and 8 staff members testing positive for COVID-19 on December 11, according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office website.

The sheriff's office website says it has quarantine processes for inmates in place. The jail staff is directed to stay home if they are sick and are temperature checks and visual and verbal screening before staff enters the building.