More than 900 inmates at the El Paso County jail in Colorado have contracted COVID-19, and it’s pretty clear why. The Denver Post reports that the sheriff’s office did not give out masks until Nov. 1, when an outbreak was already under way. This violates CDC guidelines that say all inmates should get free masks—and even flies in the face of the sheriff’s website, which says masks can save lives. A spokeswoman for Sheriff Bill Elder—who has refused to enforce mask mandates—told the Post that somehow, eight months into the pandemic, the jail was not able to get masks appropriate for the 1,200-person facility. Mark Silverstein, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado, called it “mindboggling” He added, “This is like Sheriff Elder hanging a sign on the jail saying, ‘Please sue me.’ And I imagine someone will accept that invitation.”
