More than two months after ordering Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes to reduce its prison population by half, a judge says he’s “satisfied” with his COVID-19 mitigation efforts. However, the ongoing lawsuit is not over. “Just to be clear in what I’m saying today: This does not moot the lawsuit or moot the issues, but what it does establish is that as of this date, I am satisfied that the sheriff is acting in substantial compliance with the court’s orders in reducing and managing [the] inmate population,” Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson said during a Feb. 16 court hearing. The judge’s words came after Orange County attorney Kevin Dunn said that the current arguments of the court have completely changed from the original American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit, which said that county inmates were being hurt from a COVID-19 outbreak in jails. “The bottom line is the court gave us an opportunity to demonstrate that we could …