Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that there is a mistaken belief that contracting the virus is a way to get released from custody.
A group of Los Angeles County inmates deliberately tried to infect themselves with the coronavirus in a mistaken belief they would be released if they were sick, the sheriff said Monday.
Officials believe the inmates were using the hot water to raise their temperatures — fever is a symptom of the disease, Villanueva said. In March, the sheriff announced that some inmates had been released early and that police departments had been asked to cite rather than arrest some offenders as ways to keep jail populations low.
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