Calif. Federal Judge Finds Prison System’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic ‘Reasonable’

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has refused to order the California state prison system to implement further measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its facilities, explaining that measures have already been taken, which include reducing the population and transferring inmates to less crowded spaces.

In an April 17 order, Judge Jon S. Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California explained that the court cannot grant inmates’ emergency motion for relief because the prisons have not “been deliberately indifferent to a substantial risk of serious harm to inmate health or safety.”

“The …