Prisoners 'PURPOSELY infecting themselves with coronavirus in hope of getting early release' from prison

INMATES at a California jail are "deliberately" trying to catch the coronavirus in order to gain an early release, a local sheriff has claimed.

Security videos from the North County Correctional Facility appear to show inmates sharing containers of water and breathing into the same face mask, according to Castaic-based Sheriff Alex Villanueva






A man can be seen filling up a container from a water stationSheriff Alex Villanueva said the actions are part of a ploy for inmates to get sick.


"It’s sad to think that someone deliberately tried to expose themselves to COVID-19," Villanueva said during one of his virtual weekly press conferences conducted at the Sherman Block Building in Monterey Park. "Somehow there was some mistaken belief among the inmate population that if they tested positive that there was a way to force our hand and somehow release more inmates out of our jail environment — and that’s not gonna happen."


In one video, believed to have been taken on April 15, three inmates appear to share a Styrofoam cup and breathe into the same face mask.

He then appears to share it out with other inmates The Sheriff says inmates can be seen sharing water

In one of the modules, 21 inmates tested positive Calls for jails to early release some prisoners have been widespread But the Sheriff claims some of these inmates are purposefully trying to catch the virusIn a second video, dated April 26, inmates can be seen swigging from the same container.


In April, a coronavirus outbreak in the jail resulted in 21 of around 50 inmates in one module testing positive.

More than 350 inmates have tested positive in jails across LA County, with the number of cases tripling since April.

Calls for jails to release non violent offenders early have been widespread, as the number of coronavirus cases in the prison system climbs.


Sheriff Villaneuva showed the videos at a press conferenceBut in March, one inmate who was mistakenly released over coronavirus fears fatally shot a man the day after he was released.

Joseph Edwards Williams, 26, was let out of Orient Road Jail in Tampa Bay, Florida on March 19 - with more than 100 other inmates.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Joseph Williams was let out of jail because he was eligible for bond and didn't have the funds to post it.


The convicted felon had 35 prior arrests.

"We didn't go back at the time and look at people's criminal history," Chronister said.

"That has since changed. People that we are releasing moving forward, we are checking their criminal history prior to being released."

Illegal immigrants detained by U.S. officials are being released from jails


across the country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Judges in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, Massachusetts and California have been ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to free detainees.
An unprecedented move was made

in April by California's governor during the coronavirus crisis to grant early release for 3,500 inmates.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's accelerated the release and parole dates of thousands of inmates who are serving non-violent jail terms.


America's crowded prisons, described as "petri dishes"

for the disease, have become an evermore pressing issue.

In the US, nearly one in 100 people

is behind bars, and there are more than 10 million admissions over the course of just one year.

The infection rate at New York's Rikers Island Jail is 87 times that of the rest of the country's, according to the Legal Aid Society, due to crowded conditions and lack of sanitation.