UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

CODY BARNETT, et al.

Plaintiffs/Petitioners, 

 v. 

GREGORY TONY

Defendant/Respondent. 

Civil Action No. 20-cv-61113

Class Action

DECLARATION OF CODY BARNETT

CODY BARNETT, currently incarcerated at the Joseph V. Conte Facility, Broward 

County Jail declares pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1746 that the following is true and correct: 

1. I am a 32-year-old man. I am currently held at the Joseph V. Conte Facility, Unit 

A7, of the Broward County Jail. My inmate number is 502000988.

2. I am HIV positive and take daily medication to treat my condition. If I do not take 

my medication as prescribed, my immune system is weakened and, if I stop taking it for long 

enough, my body can stop reacting positively to the treatment.

3. I was booked into the Main Jail facility on April 5, 2020 and spent about 17 days 

there before officers transferred me to the Conte facility. I am currently still at the Conte facility,

but have been in two different cells.

4. I learned about the coronavirus before I came to the jail, including that it could be 

spread easily if people did not maintain distance, did not regularly wash their hands, did not 

cover their mouths, and did not properly clean commonly touched surfaces. I also learned that 

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because I have an underlying condition, I am much more vulnerable to becoming seriously ill 

and even dying if I catch the virus.

5. When I was booked at the Main jail around midnight or 1:00a.m., I saw a nurse as 

part of the booking process. I told her that I had HIV and that I took daily prescription 

medication. I also told her that I had a tooth abscess and he said he would prescribe medication 

but gave me only ibuprofen for the pain. 

6. During booking, I was not asked if I had any symptoms of covid-19, if I felt ill, or 

if I had been tested for the coronavirus. None of the staff said anything to me about the 

coronavirus, and no one gave me instructions or warnings about how to protect myself and others 

while in the jail. I was not given a mask during the booking process and I did not see anyone else 

being booked wearing masks either, even though we were in a single-file line less than six feet 

apart. I was then put into a holding cell with 4-5 other inmates. Meanwhile, the nurse who was 

working in booking was wearing two pairs of gloves and two disposable hospital masks. 

7. After being processed in booking, I was taken to the intake area where I was 

placed in a cell until about 7:00a.m. The intake area is a room with 6 or 7 cells and a U-shaped 

desk with 7-8 windows where jail staff would be working. Although the cell doors could be 

closed, they were mostly left open because the jail staff would be calling people over to complete 

the admission process. Even though the cell doors were open, we were not allowed outside our 

cell and into the intake room unless we had been called out by jail staff.

8. The day after my first full night at the Main jail, I saw a nurse to get medicine for 

my tooth pain. I told him that I had not gotten my HIV medication. He said that I would first 

need to get bloodwork done in the lab. My bloodwork was not done until one month later and 

during that time I was instead given multivitamins and fish oil.

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9. I still did not get my HIV medication for the next week or so, after which I was 

tested for tuberculosis and saw a doctor. When I asked about my HIV medication, the doctor said 

I could not get my HIV medication unless I had bloodwork done first.

10. I spent my first night in Main in a holding room that had 4 cells on one wall and 3 

on the opposite side. At the time, only 2 cells on the same side were being used, one for women 

and the other for men. Even though there were empty cells, when I was brought into the holding 

room in the middle of the night with another man, both of us were I was put in a cell that already 

had 3 or 4 men in it. None of the men detained in the cell were wearing masks or gloves.

11. The cell was dirty, and I was afraid to touch anything. The cell had a toilet, sink, 

and two slabs on opposite sides of the cell, for sitting or sleeping on. I could see drops of liquid 

and dried spots on the sink and toilet, which were chrome. The toilet and sink did not smell of 

bleach or chemicals, so I could not tell what the dried liquid was. 

12. While I was in the cell, it was impossible for us to stay even an arm’s length away 

from each other because of the cell’s size and number of us in there. At some point during the 

night, two people were trying to sleep on the floor, and the rest of us were mostly standing 

around. I couldn’t sit or lay on the floor because it was dirty and I would be too close to the men 

trying to sleep or in the way of the men standing around. I couldn’t sit or lay on the slab because 

it was too small. If two people sat on the slab, I would be less than an arm’s length away from 

the other person. 

13. Around 7am, I was taken upstairs to see a magistrate. When I came up, I was first 

put in a room that had a mat in it and waited there until it was my turn with the judge. The mat 

looked used and I had no idea if it had been cleaned at all.

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14. I was left in that room for about one and a half or two hours and then taken into 

another small room where I used a laptop to have a video appearance before the magistrate. I was 

not given any gloves to wear before using the computer. I do not know if the computer keyboard 

had been cleaned or when someone had last used it before me. 

15. At no point during booking or my stay in the holding area did I get a mask or 

gloves.

16. After my video appearance, I was taken to the transit dorms on another floor. 

There were about 15 cells in this unit, arranged on two tiers. When you entered the unit on the 

lower level, there was a video visitation booth and four telephones along one side and, in the 

center, about three tables with four seats each that were connected to the table so they could not 

be moved. We had to drink water from the sink in our cell, but the entire time I was there, the 

water never ran clear, it was always slightly brown. Even if two people sat opposite each other 

at a table, you could reach your arms out and easily touch the other person.

17. The transit dorms were disgusting. I thought I was going to be in the transit 

dorm/unit for only a few days, but I ended up staying there for 17 days.

18. I was put in cell number 13, which was maybe about 8 feet by 7 feet. There was 

already another man in the cell who told me he had been there for about a week. He was not 

wearing a mask. The morning after I arrived, he was taken to another jail. I was then given a new 

cellmate and he was also not wearing a mask.

19. The entire first week that I was in transit, I did not have a mask and I did not see 

any prisoners other than the one who brought around cleaning supplies wearing a mask. I saw a 

nurse once during this time and she was wearing a white full-body suit with full sleeves and a 

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shield over her face. I asked for a mask and she said the only people who got masks were 

prisoners who had tested positive or had coronavirus symptoms, and staff. 

20. Then, at the start of the second week the guards gave all of us masks and brown 

paper bags to keep the masks in. They did not give us any instructions about how to make sure 

the mask didn’t get contaminated, how to put it on and take it off so it stayed sanitary, whether 

we could clean them, or how we should store them. When they gave us the masks, they made it 

seem like we would not be getting new ones any time soon because there was a shortage. The 

masks were the disposable ones that you see in hospitals. They do not last long and, after a few 

days, I saw many prisoners with masks that couldn’t tie properly or keep their mouth and nose 

covered because they were failing apart. 

21. Meanwhile, the jail staff in transit during this time had masks and gloves. I also 

saw an officer come around at the start of every shift and take the temperature of all the deputies 

working in the unit, but no one took my temperature and I never saw any other prisoner have 

their temperature taken during this time.

22. For about the first seven days I was there, I never saw or heard anyone clean the 

phones, video booth, tables, or chairs. Finally, at the start of my second week there, the inmate 

who brought cleaning supplies around for us to use to clean our cells, would spray the video and 

phone equipment and tables. This only happened once each day, at the start of the morning shift. 

23. There were two showers shared by all of us in transit, one on each tier. They were 

grimy and unclean even though, supposedly, the showers were cleaned by a prisoner. For the 

first week I was there, I never saw anyone clean the showers, and it showed. The walls had like a 

film of soap scum and other stuff, so it didn’t look like they scrubbed the walls or used any kind 

of bleach or disinfectant. The showers never smelled like bleach or any chemicals. The top 

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shower didn’t even drain properly so the whole time I was there, after it was used, a pool of 

water would collect at the bottom. 

24. We were on a 23-hour lockdown and only given supplies to clean our cells every 

other day during our free hour. During that hour, an inmate would leave some kind of cleaning 

spray, a broom, a mop, and bucket of greyish water in the common area outside our cells. We 

had to take turns using these to clean our rooms. If you happened to be in the shower or on a 30-

minute video visit, and the supplies ran out or they were taken away before you were finished, 

you missed your chance to clean and had to wait two days before you had the chance to clean 

again. 

25. They only gave one mop and one bucket of mop water for the entire dorm to use 

to clean their cells, no matter how dirty the mop or water got. We were given only two towels 

and a mop for people in all 15 cells to share.

26. We were let out of our cells in groups, not all at once. Even though more than one 

person would be at the same phone or video unit, the equipment was not wiped down or cleaned 

between each use. The tables and chairs were also not wiped or cleaned during this hour.

27. After about a week in the transit dorms, I asked a female officer how long I would 

be there. She said I had to stay for 14 days because all new arrestees were being quarantined 

before they were sent to another facility. I asked her how it was a real quarantine if new people 

were coming in and some people, like my first cellmate, didn’t even stay the 14 days. She agreed 

that the cycling of people in and out, and us all mixing together defeated the point of quarantine, 

but said that was how they were doing it. 

28. On or around April 22, I was taken from the transit dorm to a cell on another 

floor, handcuffed to another person and then put on a bus with about 20 other prisoners who 

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were handcuffed in pairs, like me, to be transported to the Conte facility. It was impossible to 

distance myself from the person I was handcuffed to since our hands wrists and arms were in 

constant contact, and we were seated next to each other on a two-person bus seat. Meanwhile, 

the officer, who sat by himself at the front of the bus was wearing a mask. 

29. When we arrived at Conte, a nurse took our temperature, asked about any 

medication we were on, and took our blood pressure. Again, neither she nor any other jail staff 

asked if I had the virus or any symptoms, and none of them said anything about hygiene or 

prevention practices or what to do if we got symptoms while at Conte. 

30. At Conte, my unit had about 16 cells in this unit and each cell had three or four 

men. I was first put in cell B-3 which is a 6-man cell with 3 or 4 other people.

31. When you entered the cell, there was a sink and toilet were to your left and there 

were two sets of bunk beds on the wall directly ahead of you, and another pair of bunk beds on 

your right. 

32. Initially we were on a 22-hour lockdown in this unit. We could leave our cells for 

only 1 hour during the morning and one hour during the evening. The 22-hour lockdown lasted 

until late May.

33. The second day I was at Conte, I finally had my blood drawn, which was required 

before I could get my HIV medication. By that time, I had been without my medication for about 

3 weeks. The jail was instead giving me fish oil pills and multivitamins.

34. I was very worried because without my medication, I start to feel rundown and 

my immune system becomes weaker, and I know that if I catch the virus, I am at a high risk to 

become severely ill and could even die. 

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35. I was particularly scared at Conte because I soon heard that about a week before I 

had gotten there, someone had gotten sick and had been removed from the unit. I also heard that 

an Officer Sinot had been working in Conte before I got there and had to be escorted out during 

his shift because he had gotten sick.

36. This meant that the virus was in the jail and, with the poor and ineffective 

cleaning, our inability to stay distanced from each other, the fragile face masks we used, the 

failure to test us, and the failure to properly quarantine newly arrested individuals, it had likely 

gotten around.

37. The general mood of the prisoners in my unit at Conte showed the panic people 

were feeling. Any time a new person came in, everyone would be really suspicious and ask them 

questions to try to figure out if they were bringing the virus into the unit with them. 

38. Sometime during the week of May 11, everyone in my cell was moved into a 

different cell for 3 days and two nights, while the jail repainted the cell we had been in. Everyone 

in that unit was getting their cells repainted and, eventually, they moved all of us into new cells. I 

was moved to A-7.

39. Before moving us, the sergeant announced that they were converting B3 into a 

quarantine unit for people coming over to Conte from Main. Officer Pierre told me this as well. 

40. The cells in A Unit are much smaller than the one I had been in until then at 

Conte and were more like the size of the cells in transit at Main. Also, most are 2-person cells

filled to capacity with some 6-person cells that generally have 4-5 people at any given time.

41. All of us in this unit share 8 showers, four on each tier. 

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42. Until about last week, we were allowed out only two total hours per day. Now we 

are allowed out of our cells for two hours in the morning and two at night. We are not given any 

instructions about social distancing when we are release from our cells.

43. My cell here is much worse than B3. The toilet in cell overflows, leaving water 

and urine all over the floor. We have to use a towel to clean up overflow, so end up with a wet, 

smelling towel in the cell for most of the day. The toilet has been this way since the time I was 

transferred to A-7 about three weeks ago.

44. We have basically the same inadequate cleaning supplies and practices here as we 

did in B3. We have one mop and bucket of water for the entire unit. Someone sprays stuff in 

your cell but it’s not bleach. I don’t know what it is.

45. I have one cellmate who has been in Broward County jail for 18 months. I am 

worried because for about two weeks he was often coughing and none of us really wear our 

masks when we are in our cells. My cellmate has not been tested for the coronavirus and has not 

been to medical since I have been here to have his cough checked.

46. About two or three weeks ago, I heard an announcement over the loudspeaker 

about keeping distance from people and hygiene but could not hear clearly because I was in my 

cell along with other prisoners in my unit. The announcement was made twice that week, but this 

was the first time I had heard such an announcement. Because I was in my cell when it was 

made, it was difficult to hear and it sounded like it was directed at the jail officers, not the 

prisoners. 

47. A few weeks ago, I filed a grievance with the Conte Jail. In the grievance, I said 

that my health was in jeopardy because of my underlying health conditions that make me

vulnerable to the coronavirus and that I should be given pretrial release. I mentioned that staff

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gave only three towels for whole unit and inadequate cleaning supplies. I also complained about 

mixing prisoners from quarantine into the general population and requested temperature checks

for prisoners. I received a response was that he had to contact judge for pretrial release. They did 

not acknowledge cleaning requests, just told me that staff provides daily cleaning materials for 

cells. They also did not acknowledge my complaint about mixing quarantine prisoners into 

general population.

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TELEPHONIC CERTIFICATION

I, Mark Carter, certify that I reviewed this declaration with Cody Barnett by reading it to him

over the telephone on June 3 and June 4, 2020 and that she certified that the declaration was true and 

correct to the best of her knowledge.

s/Mark Carter June 4, 2020

Mark Carter Date

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