Inmates at a Los Angeles County jail have been caught deliberately trying to contract COVID-19 in a coordinated effort, mistakenly believing that becoming infected would secure them an early release.
According to surveillance footage released on Monday (local time) by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, a group of male inmates inside the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, California, were captured sharing a contaminated water bottle and taking turns to sniff a face mask.
In the first video dated April 26, several men appeared to take turns swigging from a bottle filled with hot water. Authorities say the inmates were also attempting to elevate their temperatures to mock a fever, a COVID-19 symptom, to present to an on-duty nurse. In a second, earlier video, four inmates were captured sharing the same foam cup and deeply inhaling into a shared mask.
Within two weeks, 30 prisoners in the facility had tested positive for COVID-19.
As reported by the Washington Post, Los Angeles County has previously released prisoners due to concerns regarding the pandemic. In March, the county responded to the worsening outbreak by releasing inmates with less than 30 days of their sentences remaining, in an effort to reduce prison populations.
Authorities later confirmed the North County Correctional Facility inmates had formulated the plan to contract the virus in a bid for freedom.
"Somehow there was some mistaken belief among the inmate population that if they tested positive, there was a way to force our hand and somehow release more inmates out of our jail environment - and that's not going to happen," Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said during a press conference on Monday (local time).
The virus has found a firm foothold in American prisons, infecting inmates at a staggering rate. As reported by the Washington Post, a tally last month revealed more than 9400 reported cases and 140 virus-related deaths among prisoners across the US. At the end of April, the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced that 70 percent of inmates' tests had returned positive results.
As of Monday (local time), Villanueva confirmed to reporters that nearly 4600 inmates remain quarantined as a precautionary measure - with almost 2000 located at the North County Correctional Facility, where the footage was obtained.
