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Jails in Crisis: Tri-State Inmates
Released to Manage Rapid COVID-19 Spread
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High-profile prisoner Harvey Weinstein has COVID-19, while Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine is seeking home confinement due to asthma
Published March 23, 2020 • Updated on March 23, 2020 at 11:33 pm
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/jails-in-crisis-tri-state-prisoners-slowly-released-to-manage-covid-19-spread/2339878/
Prisoners are slowly being released from tri-state jails as corrections officials raise the alarm about the rapid march of coronavirus through our jails. In New York City, at least 75 prisoners have been released and 200 more are flagged for release. In New Jersey, up to 1,000 could soon be released. Read on for more details.
NEW YORK
On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that 75 inmates had been released from city facilities, with more who are under state jurisdiction in NYC being reviewed as well.
The city has a list of 200 detainees for potential release, all of whom are serving sentences of 90-days or less. Final decisions on those releases were supposed to be issued on Monday, the mayor said, and the individuals would be let go on Tuesday.
The mayor previously said that those inmates who get released are "high-risk for COVID-19 related complications and low-risk of re-offending. Most of the remaining individuals are parole re-offenders and under the discretion of the State. The City is working with the State to pursue their release, as well."
An additional 100-200 cases will be reviewed on Tuesday, followed by a decision on Wednesday, de Blasio said as part of an ongoing process to reduce the risk of coronavirus spread.
On Saturday, the New York City Correction Board called on criminal justice leaders to urgently decrease the prison population and release people who were at high risk of dying of COVID-19 amid a growing "crisis" in the jails.
As of Saturday morning, at least 38 prisoners and prison employees had tested positive for COVID-19. Twenty-one of the positives were people in custody. "Given the nature of jails (e.g. dense housing areas and structural barriers to social distancing, hygiene, and sanitation), the number of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 is certain to rise exponentially," the BOC letter said.
Brooklyn public defender Scott Hechinger has been raising the alarm, saying he is concerned about some of his high-risk clients who are currently detained.
The mayor's office said Correctional Health Services is now screening detainees before entering and leaving city jail facilities. Those who show symptoms while entering will be isolated from the general population. Staff are also being screened.
Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was one high profile prisoner illustrating the spread of coronavirus in the New York prison system. The disgraced producer has tested positive for coronavirus, the head of the New York state corrections officers union confirmed to NBC News Monday.
Weinstein has been at Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, since his transfer from Rikers Island.
Michael Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, said Weinstein is currently in isolation at the prison and seven staff at the facility who came in contact with him have been quarantined. At least one other inmate there has tested positive. The facility holds more than 40,000 inmates.
Meanwhile Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine is among various inmates in New York who are requesting a release amid the spread of COVID-19 inside the state's prison system. His lawyer is asking for home confinement for his client due to his asthma attacks.
The rapper has been in a New York City jail since he was sentenced to 2 years in prison last year.
NEW JERSEY
Up to 1,000 people in New Jersey county jails will be released starting Tuesday, in an unprecedented effort to limit the viral spread. The New Jersey order was signed Sunday night, an agreement among the Attorney General's Office, County Prosecutor's Association, Public Defender's Office and ACLU-NJ.
"I don't know that any other state has done this. I applaud the Attorney General for starting that process," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Monday.
Anyone serving a sentence in a New Jersey county jail is subject to the order, although prosecutors can challenge the release of certain individuals, if they believe there a significant risk to the person being released or to public safety.
The order does not commute people's sentences, but instead orders their temporary release during the COVID-19 outbreak. When the coronavirus crisis diminishes, judges will decide whether any sentences should be commuted.
"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,
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