Explore latest data and updates on COVID in California’s county jail system

This report is written by the Covid In-Custody Project which partners with the Davis Vanguard to bring reporting on the pandemic in California’s county jails and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the public eye. Visit our website to view and download our data on cases, testing, releases and vaccinations for incarcerated people and staff. 

As of November 28th, several California county jail systems are struggling with emerging or ongoing outbreaks among their incarcerated populations. Counties like Orange and Placer are just heading into potential outbreaks, both recording 26 active cases after periods of consistently low infections. San Diego County is also experiencing elevated counts, now with 16 cases among the incarcerated population, and 36 among staff. Meanwhile, several jails are actively recovering from outbreaks earlier in the month and are still facing fluctuations, such as Alameda and Santa Clara, with 17 and 6 active cases, respectively. 

Despite the growing number of COVID-19 cases in these counties, Monterey, Napa, and San Francisco counties are consistently reporting few active infections among staff and incarcerated people in recent weeks. Sacramento County comparably has a higher case count of 15 given its larger incarcerated population, though this is among its lowest since the summer. Other counties, including Amador, Butte, Marin, Modoc, San Benito, Solano, and Yolo, all lastly reported no active cases, however data collection for these locations predates the month of November. 

Vaccination rates are still not consistently available across California’s jails, but the available data is growing. Several counties such as San Francisco and Santa Clara boast nearly fully vaccinated jail staff populations, with Contra Costa, Marin, Merced, and San Diego counties not far behind. Within the incarcerated populations, however, vaccination rates remain relatively low. In Modoc and San Benito counties, for example, under 15% of the incarcerated population is fully vaccinated. The highest vaccination rates can conversely be found in Marin and San Mateo counties, with 78% and 56% of the incarcerated populations fully vaccinated, respectively, though this is still considerably low compared to staff rates.

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently rescinded its health order on mandatory testing for unvaccinated jail staff, but is still enforcing mandatory vaccinations and boosters for medical staff (see below for more details). Medical staff vaccination rates in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Merced, Orange, San Francisco, San Diego, San Mateo, and Santa Clara all surpass 85% in accordance with the state order, while those in Imperial and Siskiyou counties are the highest, at 100%. Conversely, in San Luis Obispo County, only 36% of medical staff are fully vaccinated, and 13% are boosted.

In addition to state health orders, the public health departments in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties mandate that all jail staff receive the vaccine and booster as of March 2022. While both counties are mostly compliant, only 64% and 74% of staff in San Francisco and Santa Clara county jails have received the booster. 

Here are the detailed statistics for the California counties that have responded to our public records requests, submitted under the Public Records Act (CPRA), for COVID statistics. In some counties, the sheriff’s office posts daily or weekly COVID updates on their website, which we incorporate in our dataset.

1. Alameda County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of November 28th, there are 17 active cases among Alameda County’s incarcerated population. After experiencing an outbreak earlier in the month and recording a high of 56 positive cases on the 18th, the Santa Rita Jail is still struggling to recover. 
  • 25% of the incarcerated population is fully vaccinated, while 13% has received the booster shot. Overall, these rates have gradually increased in recent months.
• Jail Staff
  • There are 4 active cases among jail staff as of November 18th, which is an improvement from the 12 cases reported a week prior. Similar to the incarcerated population, staff rates have been higher since the outbreak.
  • Vaccination rates are higher than those reported for the incarcerated population, as 70% of jail staff are fully vaccinated. In addition, 75% of the sheriff’s office is fully vaccinated and 10% is boosted.
  • 94% of medical staff are fully vaccinated and 86% are boosted in accordance with the state vaccine mandate. In the last cycle in October, there was also an 84% compliance rate in accordance with the CDPH mandatory testing requirement for unvaccinated staff, which is a decrease from previous rates.

2. Amador County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Data received from Amador County Jail dates back to August 18th, when there were 0 active cases.
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are not available.
• Jail Staff
  • Likewise, there were 0 active cases among jail staff and the sheriff’s office on August 18th.
  • 54% of the jail staff is fully vaccinated and 21% is boosted.

3. Butte County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Butte County has not released updated data since September 15th, when there were 0 active cases. This low has remained consistent since August 16th.
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are currently unavailable.
• Jail Staff
  • There were 2 active cases in the sheriff’s office on September 15th. Rates have consistently declined since early August’s peak of 10 active cases.
  • 41% of jail staff are fully vaccinated, though data is not available on booster shots.

4. Calaveras County

• Incarcerated Population

• No COVID-related data on the incarcerated population has been released aside from what is available through the Board of State and Community Corrections.

• Jail Staff
  • As of November 1st, there were 2 active cases in the sheriff’s office. This is consistent with recent trends.
  • 16% of the sheriff’s office is fully vaccinated. Additionally, 37% and 6% of jail staff are fully vaccinated and boosted.

5. Colusa County

• Colusa County has not shared any relevant data aside from the incarcerated population of 92 and staff population of 13. They state that COVID-related information is not in their possession.

6. Contra Costa County

• Incarcerated Population
  • The most recent data received is from August 28th. At this time, there was 1 active case within the incarcerated population, a vast improvement from the 38 cases that presented a month prior.
  • As of September 7th, 52% of incarcerated individuals are fully vaccinated and 27% are boosted.
• Jail Staff
  • Data on active cases among jail staff is not available.
  • 85% of jail staff are fully vaccinated and 24% are boosted, while 89% of the sheriff’s office is vaccinated and 23% is boosted. All unvaccinated individuals within the sheriff’s office have received exemptions.
  • In accordance with the state vaccine mandate, 91% of medical staff are boosted. The data does not specify the percentage of medical workers that are fully vaccinated beyond <11.

7. Humboldt County

• Incarcerated Population
  • No data on Humboldt County’s incarcerated population is available.
• Jail Staff
  • The most recent data on the jail staff is from August 13th, when there were 4 active cases. 
  • 61% of jail staff were fully vaccinated at this time. These rates have not increased since the previous update in January.
  • In accordance with the vaccine mandate, 79% of medical staff are fully vaccinated, and 21% are boosted. 

8. Imperial County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Data on active cases and vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are not available.
• Jail Staff
  • Though active cases within the staff populations are unknown, 100% of medical staff are fully vaccinated, and 96% are boosted. This makes Imperial County nearly fully compliant with the August vaccination mandate.

9. Kern County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Only data on cumulative cases, but not active cases and vaccination rates, is available for Kern County’s incarcerated population.
• Jail Staff
  • Similarly, no relevant data aside from cumulative cases is available for jail staff.

10. Kings County

• Incarcerated Population
  • There was an outbreak of 42 active cases on July 31st, but no data has been made available since then. Prior to this, cases consistently only ranged between 0 and 2.
  • Vaccination rates are not available.
• Jail Staff
  • Data for Kings County jail staff also dates back to the summer. As of August 31st, there were 3 positive cases in the sheriff’s office. 
  • While 76% of the sheriff’s office is fully vaccinated, only 3% has received the booster shot.

11. Los Angeles County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of December 1st, there are 604 active cases within Los Angeles County’s incarcerated population. This is a drastic increase from the 73 cases recorded one day earlier, pointing to the start of an outbreak, and is the highest number of positive cases since January. 
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are currently unavailable.
• Jail Staff
  • The county does not share any COVID related data for the jail staff or sheriff’s office.

12. Madera County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Madera County does not provide data on the incarcerated population.
• Jail Staff
  • The most recent data from September 1st reveals that only one staff member was positive for the virus. The number of cases has fluctuated between 0 and 2 since May.
  • 44% of jail staff are fully vaccinated and 5% have received the booster shot. Additionally, 31% of the sheriff’s office is vaccinated, while only 3% is boosted.

13. Marin County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Data on the number of active cases within the incarcerated population dates back to August 23rd, when there were 0 cases.
  • 187 incarcerated individuals, or 78% of the population, are fully vaccinated. This is the highest vaccination rate in custody out of all counties for which data is available.
• Jail Staff
  • A case count for the jail staff is not provided, but 84% of the sheriff’s office is fully vaccinated. Additionally, 85% of medical staff have received the booster in compliance with state health orders.

14. Merced County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Merced County’s data on the incarcerated population was received on August 3rd. At this time, 11 individuals tested positive for the virus.
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are not available.
• Jail Staff
  • As stated above, the most recent data is from August 3rd, when there were 8 active cases among jail staff and 12 active cases in the sheriff’s office. 
  • 84% of staff have been fully vaccinated and 44% have received the booster. In terms of compliance with the state vaccine mandate, 95% of medical staff are vaccinated and 93% are boosted.

15. Modoc County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of August 22nd, there were 0 active cases out of the incarcerated population of 18.
  • However, only 1 incarcerated individual, or 6% of the population, is fully vaccinated and boosted.
• Jail Staff
  • At this time, there were also 0 cases among jail staff and the sheriff’s office. 
  • The county does not have information on staff vaccine rates.

16. Monterey County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of December 1st, there is 1 positive case in custody. For the month of November, cases consistently ranged between 0 and 1. No significant outbreak has been identified since July, when there were 24 positive cases.
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are currently unavailable.
• Jail Staff
  • Our records on jail staff date back to August 1st. There were 0 active cases at this time.
  • Vaccination rates are also unavailable for staff.

17. Napa County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of November 19th, there were 2 active cases. Active cases in Napa County’s jail are typically low.
  • Vaccination rates within the incarcerated population are updated as of September 10th, with 35% of the population fully vaccinated and 3% boosted.
• Jail Staff
  • Only data on staff vaccination rates is available. 71% of jail staff are fully vaccinated and 49% are boosted.
  • Only 48% and 43% of medical staff are fully vaccinated and boosted in accordance with state health orders, making the county largely noncompliant.

18. Nevada County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Only vaccination rates are available for the incarcerated population. As of October, 33% of the population was fully vaccinated, and 7% is boosted.
• Jail Staff
  • Only 58% of jail staff are fully vaccinated, while 83% of medical staff have received the booster in compliance with state health orders.

19. Orange County

• Incarcerated Population
  • There are 26 active cases as of November 28th. This is an increase from previous weeks, during which positive case counts did not surpass 10, indicating a potential outbreak.
  • Data on vaccination rates is not available for Orange County’s incarcerated population.
• Jail Staff
  • Though the number of active cases among jail staff is not available, 70% of jail staff are currently fully vaccinated, and 34% are boosted. In addition, 95% of medical staff are fully vaccinated and 92% are boosted in accordance with state health mandates.

20. Placer County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of December 1st, there were 26 active cases among the incarcerated population. Before this outbreak, Placer County jails have recorded few to zero cases since the onset of data collection in June.
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are currently unavailable.
• Jail Staff
  • Unlike the incarcerated population, active cases among staff remain low. As of November 28th, there are only 3 positive cases in the sheriff’s office.
  • Data on vaccination rates is not available for jail staff either.

21. Riverside County

• Incarcerated Population
  • The most recent data on COVID-19 cases dates back to August 29th, when there were 11 active cases. Trends indicate decreasing infection rates since a minor outbreak of 67 cases in July.
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population are not available.
• Jail Staff
  • As of September 30th, there were 17 active cases within the sheriff’s office. This is a vast improvement from the 107 cases reported two months prior. 
  • Like the incarcerated population, data on vaccination rates is not available.

22. Sacramento County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of November 30th, there are 15 active cases out of 3,042 incarcerated individuals. Sacramento County’s jail system has been seeing consistently low numbers of active cases since August’s outbreak of 162 cases.
  • Vaccination rates remain low, with 794 individuals, or 24% of the incarcerated population, having been fully vaccinated. 
• Jail Staff
  • No COVID related data is currently available for jail staff.

23. San Benito County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Data for San Benito County is from August 8th, when there were 0 active cases.
  • Only 12% of incarcerated individuals in San Benito County have been fully vaccinated, and 8% have been boosted.
• Jail Staff
  • There were 0 cases in both the sheriff’s office and the jail staff population as of August 29th.
  • 48% of staff have been fully vaccinated, and 7% have been boosted, while 86% of the sheriff’s office has been vaccinated and 4% has been boosted. Data on vaccination rates for medical staff is not available. 

24. San Bernardino County

• Incarcerated Population
  • No COVID-related data is available on the incarcerated population.
• Jail Staff
  • On September 23rd, there were 38 positive cases reported in the sheriff’s office, and 30 cases among jail staff.
  • Staff vaccination rates are not currently available.

25. San Diego County

• Incarcerated Population
  • There are 16 positive cases in custody as of November 26th. Though nothing extreme, rates have been increasing since a low of 5 cases was reported early in the month.
  • 33% of the incarcerated population is currently vaccinated, and 10% has received the booster shot. 
• Jail Staff
  • As of December 1st, there were 36 active cases in the sheriff’s office, which is the highest number of staff cases recorded since July.
  • 61% of the sheriff’s office and 91% of jail staff are fully vaccinated. Further, 94% of medical staff are fully vaccinated and 87% are boosted. 

26. San Francisco County

• Incarcerated Population
  • San Francisco County has shown consistently low infection rates since its last outbreak in July. As of December 1st, there are 5 active cases in the San Francisco County Jail.
  • 48% of the incarcerated population is fully vaccinated, and 31% is boosted. 
• Jail Staff
  • As of December 1st, there are 10 cases in the sheriff’s office. The number of active cases among this population remained consistent over the past 2 months.
  • Currently, 99% of jail staff are fully vaccinated and 64% are boosted. Similarly, 98% of the sheriff’s office is fully vaccinated and 65% is boosted. 
  • 99% of medical staff are fully vaccinated in accordance with state mandates, and 97% are boosted. These are still the highest vaccination rates out of all state counties for which data is available.

27. San Joaquin County 

• Incarcerated Population
  • No relevant data is available on the incarcerated population.
• Jail Staff
  • As of July 29th, there were 4 active cases among jail staff. No notable outbreaks have occurred since January. 
  • 41% of jail staff are fully vaccinated, and 72% of medical staff are boosted in accordance with the state mandate. 

28. San Luis Obispo

• Incarcerated Population
  • The most recent data on the San Luis Obispo County Jail is from September 23rd, when there was only 1 active case. Following the outbreak of 77 cases on July 31st, numbers have remained consistently low. 
  • Vaccination rates are not available for the incarcerated population. 
• Jail Staff
  • Only vaccination data for medical staff is available. As of late September, only 36% of medical staff were fully vaccinated, and 13% were boosted, making the county noncompliant with the August vaccination mandate. Out of California counties for which data on medical staff is available, these are the lowest vaccination rates.

29. San Mateo County

• Incarcerated Population
  • According to the latest data, there were 15 active cases on August 31st. This is consistent with trends within the incarcerated population, which showed monthly fluctuations between 30 and 5 cases over the summer. 
  • 56% of the population is fully vaccinated, yet only 1% is boosted. 
• Jail Staff
  • The only data point for the sheriff’s office is from July 31st. There were 6 positive cases at this time. 
  • 82% of the sheriff’s office is fully vaccinated, and 13% is boosted. 
  • San Mateo County additionally has high vaccination rates among medical staff and is nearly fully compliant with state health orders, with 98% being fully vaccinated and boosted.

30. Santa Barbara County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of August 28th, there was 1 active case among the incarcerated population. Rates have remained consistently low with few exceptions since the 12 cases reported in July. 
  • No vaccination data is available.
• Jail Staff
  • COVID-19 data is not available for jail staff or the sheriff’s office. 

31. Santa Clara County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of November 30th, there are 6 active cases. Infection rates have declined since a minor outbreak in October, and have remained stable since. 
  • Currently, 50% of the incarcerated population is vaccinated, and 39% is boosted.  
• Jail Staff
  • Santa Clara County only reports active cases within the sheriff’s office, where there are currently 15 active cases. This count is marginally higher than records from the rest of the month.
  • Santa Clara County also demonstrates high vaccination rates. 97% of jail staff are currently fully vaccinated, and 74% have received the booster shot. Within the sheriff’s office, 76% of workers are boosted. 
  • Only 86% of medical staff have been fully vaccinated in compliance with the CDPH vaccine mandate. Additionally, the last testing cycle revealed an 87% compliance rate with state testing mandates.

32. Santa Cruz County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Data for the incarcerated population dates back to September 1st, when there were 5 positive cases.
  • Vaccination rates are not available for Santa Cruz County.
• Jail Staff
  • As of September 7th, there were only 2 active cases among the jail staff.
  • Vaccination rates are also unavailable for staff populations.

33. Siskiyou County

• Incarcerated Population
  • No data on the incarcerated population is available. 
• Jail Staff
  • Though data on active cases is not available, 100% of medical staff are fully vaccinated, and 83% have received the booster shot. 

34. Solano County

• Incarcerated Population
  • The most recent data reveals that there were 0 active cases within the incarcerated population on October 7th. This is consistent with typical case counts in the county jail. 
  • Vaccination rates are not available for the incarcerated population.
• Jail Staff
  • As of August 31st, there were 5 positive cases among jail staff, demonstrating a recovery from elevated rates in July and August. 
  • Vaccination data is also not available for the staff population.

35. Sonoma County

• Incarcerated Population
  • There was 1 active case in custody on September 25th. Rates were consistently low leading up to this count. 
  • Vaccination rates are not available for the incarcerated population.
• Jail Staff
  • As of August 10th, there was also only 1 active case in the sheriff’s office. Like the incarcerated population, cases remained stable throughout the year. 
  • Vaccination data is also not available for the staff population.

36. Stanislaus County

• Incarcerated Population
  • No data on incarcerated population cases or vaccination rates is provided.
• Jail Staff
  • The most recent data is from September 9th. At this time, there were 2 active cases among jail staff and 3 cases in the sheriff’s office.
  • 37% of jail staff and 16% of the sheriff’s office is vaccinated, though no data on booster shots is available.

37. Tulare County

• Incarcerated Population
  • The most recent data gathered on Tulare County dates back to the summer. As of July 18th, there were 6 positive cases among incarcerated individuals.
  • Vaccination data is unavailable.
• Jail Staff
  • For jail staff, there were also 6 active cases on July 18th.
  • Vaccination data is limited, though only 45% of medical staff are fully vaccinated.

38. Ventura County

• Incarcerated Population
  • Ventura County shared data from September 6th, when there were 6 active cases in the county jail. 
  • Vaccination rates are not available. 
• Jail Staff
  • As of September 1st, there were 5 positives in the sheriff’s office and 1 among jail staff. There is no data beyond this. 
  • Vaccination rates are also unavailable for staff members. 

39. Yolo County

• Incarcerated Population
  • As of September 1st, there were 0 active cases within the county’s incarcerated population. This is a dramatic decline from the 31 cases recorded a month prior on August 3rd, though no update has been provided since.
  • Vaccination rates for the incarcerated population have not been shared.
• Jail Staff
  • 182 individuals, or 73% of the sheriff’s office, have been fully vaccinated. This is the only data available on staff for Yolo County.

Here is a summary of health orders issued by the CA Department of Public Health (CDPH) for correctional facilities:

• Mandatory testing for unvaccinated jail staff: Issued in July 2021 (full compliance was required by August 2021, no longer active). All sheriff’s office members working in correctional facilities must report their vaccination status to HR/administration, and unvaccinated members must undergo weekly surveillance testing.
• Mandatory vaccinations and boosters for jail medical staff: Issued in August 2021 (updated in December 2021 and February 2022). All medical staff members working in correctional facilities must get vaccinated and boosted  by March 1, 2022. Non-medical staff working in medical settings are also subject to the requirement.

In addition to these state-wide orders, local public health officers have issued their own county-wide orders highlighted below. If sheriff’s offices are in compliance, data on positive cases, testing and vaccination rates should be readily available, but this is often not the case.

Data Sources

View and download raw data here: www.covidincustody.org/data -> View and download data.

Read reports on data, policies and protocols: www.covidincustody.org/reporting -> County Jails -> “County Name”

On July 15, BSCC Chair, Linda Penner,  requested Sheriffs and Chief Probation Officers to release weekly COVID-19 data for jails and Youth Detention Facilities. This database remains incomplete as many facilities have refused to comply. Further, it does not contain historical data prior to July 20 or data on vaccination uptake. View BSCC data here: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/covid-19-data-dashboard-landing-page/

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