FCCBF Response to COVID-19 Spread within the Forsyth County Jail

Forsyth County Community Bail Fund Calls For Action After COVID-19 Enters the Jail

After ignoring calls by local groups to drastically reduce the jail population and to stop arrests of certain charges in order to prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19 within the Detention Center’s walls, Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough and District Attorney Jim O’Neill are now faced with the predicted outcome: COVID is rapidly spreading through the Detention Center. Almost forty people incarcerated have contracted the virus, and at least eleven staff. It has already sent at least one incarcerated person to the hospital. The virus will flourish within the jail, and it will spread out into the rest of our community. The situation is dire; emergency and ICU beds at Wake Forest Baptist are at 100% capacity. This will have devastating, lasting effects.

Nobody deserves to die or have lifelong complications from a virus because they are unable to pay for their release. Nobody deserves to get COVID-19 while waiting for a trial to argue their innocence. It has been months since the last jury trial in Forsyth County, and it will be an unknown number of months until the next one.

Sheriff Kimbrough, how many more deaths in that jail would you like under your watch? Even one is too many. Do you think that people deserve to be exposed to a deadly virus simply because they can’t afford to pay their way out, before they’re even convicted of a crime?

Sheriff Kimbrough has the ability to stop jailing those accused of certain charges. He and Chief of Police Catrina Thompson have the ability to direct their officers to issue citations rather than undergo a full arrest. DA O’Neill can choose to stop issuing orders for arrest due to a defendant’s failure to appear. Many cases are being continued and communication between the courts, attorneys, and defendants has never been harder. He can choose to direct his office to stop opposing bond motions. He can direct them to stop asking for secured bonds.

We renew and update our demands:

1. That Sheriff Kimbrough and Chief Thompson direct their officers to avoid arresting and jailing those charged with misdemeanors, technical probation and parole violations, and failures to appear.
2. That Sheriff Kimbrough and District Attorney O’Neill coordinate their departments to facilitate the release of everyone incarcerated in the LEDC, starting with those detained pretrial, those serving sentences of one year or less, and those who were convicted of a Class H felony or lower. Those especially vulnerable to more serious COVID-19 outcomes should be prioritized.

While we wait for officials to take urgently needed life-saving action, the Forsyth County Community Bail Fund will be bailing out 15 people or more in the next few days. The Sheriff, Chief of Police, and the DA have the power to save more. We call on them to use this power to save lives.