Friends,
We have to remove as many
prisoners as possible, otherwise the virus could be a death sentence for those
locked in a cell. I suspect the more liberal parts of the country
will engage vigorously in releasing prisoners. But I fear the states that
support Trump, such as Georgia, will ignore the plight of the prisoners.
I am wishing and hoping that someone in Georgia makes a decision to release
Rev. Steve Kelly. Kagiso, Max
Monday, March 23, 2020
'Ticking
Time Bombs': Democrats and Advocates Demand Release of At-Risk Inmates Amid
Coronavirus Pandemic
Without "bold action" to reduce the incarcerated
population, "we will face a humanitarian crisis of enormous
magnitude."
commondreams.org
Rights
advocates and Democrats holding state and federal elected offices across the
United States are doubling down on demands for
the release of "at-risk" inmates and more preventive measures in
jails and prisons to prevent mass outbreaks of the new coronavirus, which has killed at least
473 people and infected over 35,000 nationwide as of Monday morning.
"The
only measure that will meaningfully impact the spread and harm of Coronavirus in
the jail-system is to depopulate—to release as many as possible to continue
their cases in the community—with a focus on those at highest risk of
complications."
— Dr. Jonathan Giftos
— Dr. Jonathan Giftos
Three
Democratic Congress members from New York—Reps. Nydia Velázquez, Hakeem
Jeffries, and Jerrold Nadler—joined David Patton of the Federal Defenders,
Anthony Sanon of the union representing corrections officers at the
Metropolitan Detention Center, correctional medical experts Dr. Brie Williams
and Dr. Jonathan Giftos, and New York City Councilmember Brad Lander for a
virtual press conference Sunday.
"The
COVID-19 pandemic has turned our nation's jails and prisons into ticking time
bombs," said Patton during the press conference. "This is no time for
business as usual. Unless federal courts and federal prosecutors take immediate
and bold action to reduce our federal prison population and limit the intake of
new prisoners, we will face a humanitarian crisis of enormous magnitude."
A
goal of the event was to pressure the Southern and Eastern Districts of New
York to halt new arrests for nonviolent charges and release from federal jails
inmates who are at risk of serious illness or death if they contract COVID-19.
With
a case of COVID-19 reported at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, we
must take measures to protect prisoners in our federal prisons.
Watch my press conference at 4 PM with @bradlander @NydiaVelazquez and others here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vmJrKWa5RdiSbRXPpwWgug …
The
press conference came after House Judiciary Chair Nadler sent a
pair of letters to U.S. Attorney William Barr in recent weeks asking how the
Federal Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Marshals Service is responding to the
pandemic. In the latest letter (pdf)
Thursday, Nadler and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) called for considering the
release of "vulnerable" inmates, such as "persons who are
pregnant, who are 50 years old and older, and who suffer from chronic illnesses
like asthma, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, HIV, or other
diseases that make them vulnerable to COVID-19 infection."
President
Donald Trump said Sunday
that his administration was weighing the release of some incarcerated people
following the first known COVID-19 case involving an inmate—a man at
Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. California officials announced Sunday
night that an inmate at California State Prison in Los Angeles County has also
tested positive for the virus, after five cases among
staff at three other state facilities.
Corrections
experts and rights advocates have warned for
weeks that, as Maria Morris of the ACLU wrote earlier
this month, "prison and jail populations are extremely vulnerable to a
contagious illness like COVID-19" because "conditions in correctional
facilities are highly conducive to it spreading" and many inmates
"are in relatively poor health and suffer from serious chronic conditions
due to lack of access to healthcare in the community, or abysmal healthcare in
the correctional system."
As
COVID-19 outbreaks unfold within prisons and jails, officials should not use
solitary confinement as part of the response. "When incarcerated people
contract COVID-19, they need healthcare, not punishment.” https://theappeal.org/coronavirus-prisons-punishment-solitary-confinement/ …
Williams
is a University of California San Francisco professor of medicine who focuses
on healthcare in correctional settings, particularly for the elderly and
chronically ill. "The possibility for accelerated transmission and poor
health outcomes of COVID-19 in prisons and jails is extraordinarily high,"
she warned. "Coordinated, preemptive, thoughtful, and decisive action
around decreasing the population in prisons and jails with public health at its
center will save lives in prisons, jails, and in our communities. Business as
usual will not."
Noting
that first known COVID-19 case involved an inmate in her district,
Congresswoman Velázquez called for "rapid, proactive department-wide
steps" to protect inmates and staff in correctional facilities, including
the "compassionate release of incarcerated people who are elderly or have
underlying health conditions, and who pose no risk to public safety."
"Unprecedented
times call for rethinking the normal way of doing things, and in this case, it
means releasing people who pose little risk to their communities for the sake
of public health and the dignity of people who are incarcerated."
—Amol Sinha, ACLU-NJ
—Amol Sinha, ACLU-NJ
Velázquez
also urged federal prisons and jails "to implement streamlined procedures
to release individuals who have not been convicted of any crimes and are awaiting
trial in prison or jail" and pressed the U.S. Attorneys' Offices to
"exercise maximum restraint in terms of bringing additional individuals
into the court and jail system."
As
Giftos, former medical director of Correctional Health Services at Rikers Island,
put it: "Jails simply cannot protect patients and staff from a viral
pandemic affecting the city." Giftos, now the medical director at Project
Renewal, which treats NYC's homeless population, added that "the only
measure that will meaningfully impact the spread and harm of coronavirus in the
jail-system is to depopulate—to release as many as possible to continue their
cases in the community—with a focus on those at highest risk of
complications."
Some
courts and states have moved to prevent the spread of the virus in correctional
settings. Cuyahoga County Court in Ohio ordered the
release of certain inmates from the county jail earlier this month and the New
Jersey Supreme Court on Sunday approved an agreement (pdf)
among the state attorney general's office, county prosecutor's association, the
public defender's office, and state's ACLU chapter to release up to 1,000
people in county jails beginning Tuesday.
"Unprecedented
times call for rethinking the normal way of doing things, and in this case, it
means releasing people who pose little risk to their communities for the sake
of public health and the dignity of people who are incarcerated," ACLU-NJ
executive director Amol Sinha said in a statement. "This is truly a
landmark agreement, and one that should be held up for all states dealing with
the current public health crisis."
Unprecedented
times call for rethinking normal ways of doing things.
Now, that means releasing people who pose little risk to their communities, recognizing the public health need and the dignity of people who are incarcerated.
We're proud of NJ and proud to have played a role. https://twitter.com/spsullivan/status/1242078068325351425 …
Now, that means releasing people who pose little risk to their communities, recognizing the public health need and the dignity of people who are incarcerated.
We're proud of NJ and proud to have played a role. https://twitter.com/spsullivan/status/1242078068325351425 …
After
a Sunday announcement that
a correctional officer at Cook County Jail in Chicago tested positive for
COVID-19, Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli was scheduled to present
an emergency petition Monday demanding the release of "vulnerable"
detainees, according to the
local ABC News affiliate. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that
"several" people deemed "highly vulnerable" to the
coronavirus were released from the facility last week.
Local
faith leaders planned a socially distanced prayer vigil outside the Cook County
Jail for Monday morning ahead of the hearing. Rev. Rachel Birkhahn-Rommelfanger
of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church explained in
a statement from the Chicago Community Bond Fund that "our faith calls us
to advocate for the release of people incarcerated in the jail whose lives are
at risk because of COVID-19. We are in an unprecedented crisis that calls for
unprecedented action."
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Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore,
MD 21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go
to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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