From CNN:

Inmates at one California jail tried to infect themselves with coronavirus, Los Angeles Sheriff says

Inmates at a Los Angeles County correctional facility drank from the same cup with the purpose of infecting one another, resulting in 21 cases of coronavirus, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.

The inmates at North County Correctional Facility in Castaic are seen on surveillance video crowding the hot water dispenser, sipping the water, and also “sniffing” out of a common mask, according to Villanueva.
“It is very disturbing to think that people would do this to themselves deliberately in an attempt to force our hand to release more people from custody,” the sheriff said at a press conference on Monday.

The news comes almost two months after Los Angeles County released some inmates early and reduced the number of arrests in the county due to coronavirus concerns.

I think this qualifies as a “no fucking shit Sherlock” scenario.

California politicians make a big deal about releasing inmates over Coronavirus concerns, inmates get it into their heads that Coronavirus is a “get out of jail free” card, so they deliberately infect themselves to get released.

It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in sociology to figure that out.  Actually, I’m pretty sure that a Ph.D. in sociology would never figure that out because it is a basic application of common sense.

Welcome to what economics call “perverse incentive.”  It bites you in the ass every time.