Sacramento public defenders seek video access to jail inmates during coronavirus crisis

Sacramento prosecutors and public defenders are seeking extraordinary changes in the way courthouses function and how defense attorneys communicate with clients locked down in the jail because of coronavirus.

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert sent a letter this week to Superior Court Presiding Judge Russell Hom asking for prosecutors to be able to appear by video for arraignments, pleas and some other hearings.

“I am gravely concerned about the health and safety of my staff, all others entering the courthouse and the community at large,” she wrote. “We must push all justice partners to utilize technology to conduct as many hearings (as) possible under the law.

“We must prioritize this to avoid in person appearance for all parties, including the DA, defense, defendant, court staff, bailiffs and any others needed for proceedings. Continuing to mandate personal appearances puts everyone at risk.”

All jury trials in the state have been suspended until May, and the Sacramento courts are currently closed except for certain emergency or time-sensitive hearings. The Judicial Branch of California late Thursday called an emergency statewide Saturday meeting of courts leaders focusing on measures to “ensure California courts can meet stringent health directives while also providing due process and access to justice.”

In addition to seeking more videoconferencing, Schubert is asking that new protective measures be taken once the courts reopen, including increased cleanings, more hand sanitizing stations, screening anyone entering the buildings and courtrooms and enforcing social distancing.

“This should include limiting individuals on elevators,” she wrote, adding that the courts also should decrease the number of times parties in court exchange documents with each other.

No way to meet with clients confidentially

Sacramento’s court buildings are notoriously crowded, especially those located on the first floor of the Main Jail, where dozens of people cram shoulder to shoulder at times waiting for court sessions to begin.

But court hearings are not the only problem associated with coronavirus restrictions.

Federal and Sacramento public defenders say COVID-19 fears have eliminated the ability for them to meet client in the jails for confidential sessions, and that they need assurances they can speak to clients without being overheard or recorded by jail telephone systems which routinely record non-legal inmate calls.

“Confidential attorney-communications should use video conferencing as soon as can be done, without fear of interception or recording,” Federal Defender Heather Williams wrote to Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller this week.

Sacramento Public Defender Steven Garrett sent a similar message late Thursday to judges and Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, saying that “because of the risk of contagion existing attorney booths cannot be safely used.”

“The spaces are too confined, persons too close to one another, and the risks are too grave,” Garrett wrote.

Garrett added that using the social visit areas — where attorneys would have to speak through glass via telephone to clients in front of other inmates — is not acceptable.

Sheriff’s officials say jails are safe

But sheriff’s officials maintain the jail facilities are safe for attorneys and say defense counselors are safer from the virus in the county’s lockups than at their local supermarkets.

“There’s more danger in walking to the grocery store down the street than a sanitized, confidential booth at the jail,” Sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding said Friday. Deterding said sheriff’s jailers have converted all visiting stations into confidential booths and that the bays undergo a “daily sanitization process,” that includes cleanings several times a day.

Defense attorneys visiting with clients can bring hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes, Deterding added. “They have the opportunity to sanitize themselves,” the sheriff’s spokeswoman said. “There are plenty (of booths) open all day, every day. Attorneys have access to that. They will not be turned away.”

No confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported at either of the county’’s jails in downtown Sacramento and Elk Grove, Deterding said. Deterding said several tests have been administered and that tests are being done as needed.

But Deterding said the attorneys’ concerns also raise logistics issues for the department — ramping up videoconferencing, for instance — and said the sheriff’s office wants to collaborate with the District Attorney and Public Defender’s offices and the county to find solutions. Deterding said the county counsel’s office is also “looking at possible solutions.”

“We don’t have the infrastructure (but) we’re never not going to look at options,” Deterding said. “We want to look at alternatives in the right way.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Sacramento public defenders seek video access to jail inmates during coronavirus crisis."