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Health officer, Dr. Jones, testified that petitioner had voluntarily submitted to an examination and that the laboratory reports of the State Board of Health, which appear in the transcript, showed that the petitioner was infected with a venereal disease, though there was a negative report as to the presence of syphilis.

Dr. Jones further stated that the purpose of the quarantine was to remove the infected individual from society so that she might be treated.

Dr. Jones also testified that in addition to being a State health officer, he was with the United States Public Health Service Reserve Corps, and assigned to the State of Florida with the Division of Venereal Control and that he was also Director of the City-County Venereal Disease Clinic.

His testimony also shows that the petitioner, while confined in the county jail, was quarantined therein pending transfer to one of the quarantine hospitals operated by the State Board of Health for the isolation and treatment of persons infected with venereal diseases.

The Doctor testified that camps had been erected for the isolation and treatment of cases of this kind until they are cured, which frequently happens in a very few weeks; that they were not incarcerated as in a jail but merely isolated for treatment until they are cured of the disease.

He also stated that the State Board of Health did not have any facilities for isolating and treating cases of that kind in the homes of the individuals thus infected.

The petitioner testified that she had been steadily employed at the St. John's River Ship Building Company since December, 1942, and her landlady testified that petitioner spent most of her evenings at home studying the books that the Company gave their employees so that they might learn their trade better. There was no testimony of immoral habits on the part of the petitioner. She testified that she was married and that her husband was in the Army and stationed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi and that he came down to see her whenever he got a furlough. She also testified that she had never been convicted of any crime whatsoever.

Since 1919 we have had statutes dealing with this subject and we had occasion to refer to them in the case of Lewis v. City of Miami, 127 Fla. 426, 173 So. 150, wherein, in an opinion by Mr. Justice DAVIS, it was said:

"Under Sections 3947-3955 C.G.L., 7829, Acts 1919, the public policy of this State has been legislatively declared in favor of the protection of the interest of the inhabitants of this State, as individuals, from exposure to persons known to be afflicted with vile and loathesome communicable infections, contagious and communicable venereal diseases, such as syphilis, gonorrhea and chancroid. Under that statute all persons confined or imprisoned in any municipal prison of this State are subject to being examined and treated for venereal diseases by the health authorities or their deputies. Section 3952 C.G.L. And to that and persons found infected with venereal diseases may be compulsorily detained and treated in order to prevent the dissemination of the infection. Section 3951 C.G.L."

We recently denied, without opinion, an application for release of appellant on an appearance bond pending disposition of this appeal. We might well now state our reasons for denying such application. Our view was that plaintiff-in-error was being held under a quarantine order, which is not a criminal proceeding, and hence not bailable. As soon as plaintiff an error is cured and released from quarantine, the court below has very properly announced that she will be promptly released from custody on a nominal bail bond to appear and answer the minor criminal charge for which she was arrested. Sections 8 and 9 of our Declaration of Rights guarantee the right to bail in criminal cases, with one exception.

As this Court expressed it in Ex Parte Hatcher, 86 Fla. 330, 98 So. 72: "The right to bail of one accused of crime by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses where the proof is evident or the presumption great, is absolute." In 6 Am. Jur., 48, it is said that: "The object of bail in civil cases is either directly or indirectly to secure the payment of a debt or other civil duty, while the object of bail in criminal cases is to secure the presence of the principal before the court for the purpose of public justice." See also 8 C.J.S. 4.

This Court has also held that our constitutional provisions with reference to bail do not apply to a person held under extradition proceedings charged with an offense against the laws of another state. State v. Quigg, 91 Fla. 197, 107 So. 409.

To grant release on bail to persons isolated and detained on a quarantine order because they have a contagious disease which makes them dangerous to others, or to the public in general, would render quarantine laws and regulations nugatory and of no avail.

http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/pp/varholy.htm

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