Mendocino, Stanislaus counties, state officials trade blame over inmate with coronavirus

State prison officials acknowledged Saturday that a former state prisoner was exposed to the coronavirus April 7 and released about a month early the very next day, though the state and Stanislaus County officials disagree on who’s to blame for allowing the man to make his way to Mendocino County, where he tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

The former inmate, a man between the ages of 19 and 34, was one of roughly 3,500 whom Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration released early to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in state prisons. He did not show COVID-19 symptoms during a pre-release screening at the California Institute for Men in Chino in San Bernardino County, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Saturday.

Although the inmate was not tested while at the prison, he was told to immediately report to probation officials in Stanislaus County and to self-quarantine through April 20, said Dana Simas, press secretary for the state prison department.

Instead, the former inmate traveled more than 500 miles in two days as he made his way through Sacramento and up to Ukiah. There, he was staying with a relative when Mendocino County learned about him, found him and had him tested, said David Eyster, the Mendocino County district attorney.

Eyster said the former inmate has been “pretty cooperative” and is now isolating with an ankle monitor in a hotel where meals are brought to him.

But the district attorney called it “a slap in the face in a major way to have the Department of Corrections let this guy go.”

“I don’t understand how you tell a guy he needs to quarantine for 14 days and then release him,” Eyster said, adding, “My concern is if it’s happening in Ukiah, it may be happening in Santa Rosa, San Rafael and who knows where else.”

Simas said the inmate was given a “facial barrier” to wear while en route to Stanislaus County and that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is providing all inmates with at least two cloth masks, as well as distributing fact sheets for inmates with information about COVID-19.

“CDCR takes the health and safety of our incarcerated population and the community-at-large very seriously and have taken unprecedented steps to address this public health crisis,” Simas said.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse acknowledged that he didn’t tell Mendocino County about the former inmate until earlier this week, but he took issue with the state’s handling of the situation, saying that “CDCR released him in Chino, gave him a bus pass, and told him to check in with our county.”

Modesto, the seat of Stanislaus County, is about 350 miles from the prison in Chino.

“I think it is completely irresponsible and asinine that he was released from prison the day after he was exposed,” Dirkse said in an email. “The decision to release him by CDCR jeopardized the health and safety of innumerable Californians as he traveled across the state.”

Simas emphasized that the decision to allow the former inmate to travel to Mendocino County was made by Stanislaus County: “That was a decision made at the local level.”

Mark Ferriera, the chief probation officer for Stanislaus County, said the former inmate was listed as having transient residency in Stanislaus County and that the first time probation officials heard from the former prisoner was when he called on April 9, a day after his release, to say he was living in Mendocino County with a relative.

“We subsequently had two options: make him get in a car or take public transportation to return to Stanislaus County where he would have been potentially transient again and certainly violate a ?14-day quarantine or shelter in a place where we could account for his whereabouts,” Ferriera said. “We chose the latter.”

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.