Court: Inability to contain COVID in Miami jail doesn't constitute 'deliberate indifference'
In a 2-1 ruling Monday, a federal appeals court rejected the pleas of pre-trial detainees trying to avoid COVID-19 infection inside a Miami jail, although the court acknowledged it is impossible to achieve safe distancing as the virus spreads through the facility.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling, written by Judge Kevin Newsom, concedes that the “contagious virus represents a grave health risk to them — and graver still to those who have underlying conditions that render them medically vulnerable.”
But even though Daniel Junior, director of the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department and officials in the its Metro West Detention Center knew of the risk to inmates, they cannot be liable if they responded reasonably — “even if the harm ultimately was not averted” and inmates become infected or die, Newsom wrote.
Two of the three judges agreed that the class action filed on April 5 by seven “medically vulnerable pretrial detainees” at Metro West did not meet the high standard of proving “deliberate indifference” on the part of their jailers.
Read more: https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2020/06/15/split-ruling-miami-detention-center-not-liable-for-inmate-covid-19-infections-because-virus-cant-be-stopped-in-close-quarters/
