A group of California, US, prisoners tried to infect themselves with the new coronavirus in a futile bid to win freedom, a senior police official said on Monday.
Inmates at a facility in Castaic, north of Los Angeles, were filmed sharing a disposable cup and sniffing a used face mask while crowded together.
“Somehow, there was some mistaken belief among the inmate population that if they tested positive, that there was a way to force our hand and somehow release more inmates out of our jail environment – and that’s not going to happen,” said county sheriff Alex Villanueva.
Some 21 prisoners tested positive in the prison section where the video was shot “as a result of the behaviour”, he added.
The activity came to light as prison officials investigated a broader spike in Covid-19 cases behind bars, with nearly 40 per cent of those incarcerated in Los Angeles County now in quarantine.
Los Angeles County currently has 11,700 inmates, after more than 5,000 prisoners were released in a pre-emptive measure to avoid a catastrophic Covid-19 outbreak.
Still, 357 prisoners have tested positive in the county, which has the US’ largest prison population.
The footage was “just a sampling of the many other videos being reviewed and used in the ongoing investigation”, said John Satterfield, a lieutenant in the sheriff’s department.
It was not clear how the outbreak at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic began.