In the midst of a pandemic, there are certain communities that cannot escape the infectious capability of this disease– one of these affected populations is prison inmates. As cases rise and deaths continue, government officials have been releasing inmates early from prisons to limit community spread. However, many groups claim that the government is not doing enough to mitigate the effects of this disease in prisons.
A question on many concerned citizens' minds is: why are they being released? Isn’t it dangerous? Unfortunately, due to the infrastructure of prisons and jails, inmates are at higher risk of spreading Covid-19 while incarcerated. Prisoners' lives are in danger by staying in these prisons. Many facilities are overcrowded, impacting inmates' ability to social distance, and sanitation tactics like soap or hand sanitizer are often limited or banned due to alcohol content. While handcuffed prisoners cannot cover their faces while sneezing or coughing, which only further increases the capacity for the disease to spread. Since the United States has the largest prison population in the world, this is a large unprotected population, and many state officials are trying to combat this issue. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has advocated for the release of non-violent prisoners, and as of July 2020 over 5,000 inmates were released early; over 6,500 more inmates are eligible due to pre-existing medical conditions. As of April. Massachusetts Supreme Court has authorized the release of “nonviolent offenses and those held on technical probation and parole violations”, decreasing jail populations by 20%. Further, Dallas County, Texas released 1,000 prisoners and Philadelphia cut jail populations by 17% since April. Although the reports continue, it is up to the local officials to decide how they go about prisoner release. And many facilities have not released enough prisoners to effectively limit the spread.
So far, many release advocates believe this system of release is disorganized and has some negative consequences for released inmates. These quick releases have threats to the released inmate like, difficulty securing housing, healthcare, and jobs, while also potential threats to their community like exposure risk and potentially another criminal offense. Although these are valid concerns, a majority of prisons have regulations and criteria for those being released. Most of these criteria emphasize the release of non-violent, non-sex offending criminals. However, in certain cases, if prisons have high transmission rates and overcrowding, other criminals will be considered for release on a case-by-case basis. This could mean that the individual has almost completed their sentence, or they have pre-existing health conditions that put them at risk. Although prisoners are released if their sentence is close to completion, many prisoner release advocates claim that older “lifers” should be more heavily considered for release. Studies have demonstrated that those with longer-term sentences are less likely to re-offend (either non-violent or violently) as they have had more time to partake in reform programs successfully.
In certain cases, early releases are tainted by racial and financial biases as well.
For example, the federal government used a racially biased algorithm to identify non-violent inmates for release to house arrest which benefited white inmate releases over BIPOC. And in Texas, the governor refused to release violently convicted criminals who could not afford bail. Luckily, this measure has “been ruled unconstitutional in federal courts for discriminating against low-income people”. In the state of Texas, the poverty rate for Black Texans is 20% and 8% for White Texans, and since on average Black individuals are more likely to be charged and incarcerated than White individuals, these measures disproportionately affect BIPOC.
Although many claims that the justice system is not doing enough to help incarcerated individuals in the midst of this pandemic, the Prison Policy Initiative publicly lists various ways that prison and jails could further limit transmission and support incarcerated individuals and their loved ones in these trying times. These suggestions range from increasing prisoner releases to reducing the cost of phone calls and video visits so that individuals can be emotionally and physically supported. People scared of the prospect of prisoner release may claim that if you’re convicted of a crime, you deserve to stay in prison for your full sentence. However, many of these prisoners will die and have died, if the criminal justice system does not input further measures to combat this disease. It is a challenging time for many and we need to protect our most vulnerable populations, especially in a country where mass incarceration is a systemic problem harming our communities. No one is saying that violent and malicious criminals should be released back into society to further harm others, but people do not deserve to die from coronavirus because of overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe conditions.
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