As jails let inmates go to slow coronavirus outbreaks, ACLU asks to curb arrests, too
Prisons and jail cells are among the easiest locations for COVID-19 to spread, according to health experts and media outlets.
One lawyer told the Lexington Herald-Leader the jails in Kentucky could become “gigantic Petri dishes for coronavirus.”
Officials across the U.S. ordered the release of some inmates in response. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is calling for more action from the legal system — such as curbing arrests, commuting sentences and expediting opportunities for early release.
“Public health experts recognize that there is a heightened risk of infection for people who are involved in the criminal legal system, and that downsizing the footprint of the criminal legal system should be a part of the COVID-19 public health response,” Udi Ofer, director of the ACLU’s Justice Division, said in a news release Wednesday.
The ACLU sent 14 letters to federal, state and local officials with specific recommendations to prevent outbreaks in America’s detention centers.
In one addressed to the U.S. attorney general and the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Ofer asked that the most vulnerable inmates — including those over 65 or who have terminal or debilitating medical conditions — be immediately released.
He also urged them to limit the number of incarcerations in accordance with “the same social distancing principles guiding public and private sector responses” and called for those within one year of their release to be let out with supervision.
Ofer said prosecutors should decline to prosecute minor drug offenses and illegal reentry cases and push to avoid prison time during the sentencing phase of cases that have already been prosecuted.
A second letter was addressed to “stakeholders,” such as the police, prosecutors, judges, sheriffs and governors.
In it, the ACLU recommended:
- Police stop low-level arrests and issue a ticket or citation instead;
- Prosecutors reduce requests for pretrial detention, set bail within a person’s ability to pay and avoid sentences that would limit a person’s ability to seek medical help;
- Judges give criminal defendants the chance to waive hearings or conduct them via telephone;
- Sheriffs adapt a process to test inmates for COVID-19 and provide access to medical care, release inmates who are within 60 days of their intended release date, and stop detaining immigrants for ICE ;
- Governors commute the sentences of inmates scheduled to be released within the next year.
The letters echo actions already taken by state and federal officials, including a decision by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to suspend all visits.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office opted to release some nonviolent inmates who were within 30 days of their scheduled release, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Officials in North Carolina had also cleared out four dozen inmates in Mecklenburg County by Tuesday, the Charlotte Observer reported. Candidates for release include those who committed low-level or victimless crimes and people “particularly vulnerable to the disease.”
Officials in San Francisco were doing the same, The Appeal reported.
The police commissioner in Philadelphia also ordered officers delay arrests for nonviolent crimes like drug offenses, theft and prostitution, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
