An increase in arrests of homeless people in Portland is drawing criticism from civil liberty advocates who are concerned about the risk of introducing the coronavirus into the Cumberland County Jail, where it could spread rapidly.

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office has worked with judges and attorneys to reduce the jail population over fears of the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19. Portland police began issuing summonses for violations such as public drinking and indecent conduct, instead of arresting people, to help keep the jail population low.

But the number of homeless people arrested doubled from six over a three-week period in March to 13 during the first three weeks of April, around the same time a city councilor described the Bayside neighborhood – home to the city’s homeless shelters – as a “bastion of lawlessness.”

With seven cases of COVID-19 confirmed among Portland’s homeless population, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine worries that the arrests will either introduce the virus into the jail population or cause homeless individuals, who often have underlying health conditions, to contract the virus.

As of Wednesday, no COVID-19 cases have been reported among inmates in Maine jails or state prisons.

“Arresting them and putting them in jail exposes them – and everyone else working or incarcerated in the jail – to an even greater risk of infection,” said Michael Kebede, the ACLU of Maine’s policy counsel. “Arresting people for offenses related to homelessness, such as trespass orders, should always be the last resort, and now more than ever.”

Police, however, say they’re doing their best to balance public safety and public health.

Portland Police Chief Frank Clark said the rise in arrests is the result of many factors, including an increase in calls for service, more people congregating in the area and fewer social services available.

Officers arrest people as a last resort, typically if an individual continues illicit activity, such as public drinking, after receiving a summons, Clark said. He said 61 percent of the enforcement actions in Bayside in April were summonses, compared to only 21 percent in April of last year.

“There certainly has been a significant increase in the number of summonses,” Clark said. “What that has done to some extent has emboldened some people who thought they could get away with it at least once by getting a piece of paper or a ticket.”

Clark said two additional officers and a supervisor were added in Bayside in late March or early April. But he said that was in response to a request from other beat officers and community policing staff, not pressure from the council or city manager.

Trespassing, indecent conduct, public drinking, drug use and other nuisance behaviors have long been an issue in Bayside, the epicenter of Portland’s social services, including city-run homeless shelters and programs run by the nonprofit social service agency Preble Street.

Problems came to a head two years ago. And the city seemed to have turned the tide with increased security, opening its overnight shelter during the day so people had a place to go, and adding outdoor restrooms and locker facilities. But an increase in methamphetamine use has led to something of a resurgence over the past year.

Sarah Michniewicz, president of the Bayside Neighborhood Association, said she experienced several “alarming incidents” shortly after police started making fewer arrests and people were released from jail. Those incidents included overdoses in front of her house, brazen drug deals and frequent public drinking.

“In talking to the officers, they had a general impression that folks who have been traditionally causing a lot of the trouble in the neighborhood fully understood they were not going to be taken to jail and were behaving maybe a little more chaotically because the imminent threat was removed,” said Michniewicz, who lives near the Oxford Street Shelter.

According to Cumberland County Jail logs, only six people without a home address were booked during the last three weeks of March, while 13 homeless people were arrested during the first three weeks of April, including two who were arrested multiple times. Three people were also arrested in the last week of April. Most of the arrests were for drugs, drinking in public, trespassing and violating conditions of release.

A City Hall spokesperson declined to tell a reporter whether any of the people listed as “transient” on the police logs were staying at the city’s shelter.

Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce, who oversees the jail, said he was made aware of Bayside concerns in a conference call with Clark on April 7, six days after a City Council meeting at which Councilor Kim Cook described the neighborhood as “a bastion of lawlessness.” He said officers can’t be expected to turn a blind eye to criminal activity just to keep jail populations down.

“We’re trying to strike a balance,” Joyce said. “I’m concerned about anyone, including employees, bringing in the coronavirus, because we are a closed facility like nursing homes, but we have to enforce the law. We can’t allow lawlessness.”

Joyce said the jail has reduced its population by about 31 percent by releasing people with 90 days or fewer left on their sentences, and other nonviolent offenders eligible for home confinement. As of Tuesday, the jail had about 276 inmates, compared to roughly 400 in March, he said.

Jail officials are taking extra precautions with new inmates.

As of Tuesday, Joyce said, medical staff began checking oxygen levels of people prior to booking, since low oxygen levels are a symptom of COVID-19. That’s on top of other screening measures that occur before people enter the jail building, including temperature checks, screening for respiratory symptoms and questioning whether someone has been in contact with anyone with COVID-19.

Anyone suspected of having COVID-19 is given a mask and placed in a quarantine cell with its own ventilation system while waiting for test results, Joyce said. They’re also having their temperature checked twice a day. If they test negative, they are moved into the general population after 14 days, he said.

While no COVID-19 cases have been reported in Maine’s jails, outbreaks have occurred in jails throughout the United States, including 192 women who recently tested positive in a New Orleans jail.

“As aggressive as we have been, we have been very lucky as well,” Joyce said. “I just hope and pray we can do our job and keep it out of the jail through this aggressiveness and our luck doesn’t run out.”

Advocates say there’s a simple way to further reduce the chances of an outbreak: Officers could focus more on de-escalation and other interventions for nonviolent offenders.

“In the context of a pandemic where the public health risk is extremely high,” Kebede said, “I don’t think it’s very wise to risk the custodial arrests of people who are not actually a danger to other people.”

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