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Is there a single governor, mayor, sheriff, district attorney, police chief, or judge in the country doing anything close to sufficient to prevent or stem COVID outbreaks, infections, & death in their jails/ prisons? I don’t think there is one. But please prove me wrong.
Governors could issue mass pardons & clemencies and decarcerate by the tens of thousands with the stroke of a pen.
Mayors could also order significant releases in their localities & call on their police forces to stand down & district attorneys to decline to prosecute and/or advocate for mass releases.
District attorneys could decline to prosecute, consent to release or argue for it for those already detained. Certainly could stop asking for bail as a death sentence at the rate they are currently.
Judges could stop business as usual bail setting and also start treating COVID as the “change in” and/or “exceptional” circumstance it plainly is, and grant emergency release writs filed by defenders throughout the country.
Police could stop overpolicing Black and Brown neighborhoods. At the very least, they could stop broken windows policing, stop hunting people down on outstanding low level warrants.
All leaders could use their bully pulpit to cut through the mythological, racist fear among the populace about who actually is caged & what their current incarceration & hopeful release actually means. Use this pandemic as an opportunity to underscore our joint humanity.
By the way, every one of these people in positions of power to free people & enhance public safety and health, could and should take these measures whether in a pandemic or not. Their inaction now just underscores how deeply entrenched the status quo of cruelty is.
Note: I’m purposefully here not “line-drawing” (i.e. suggesting types of “crimes” or allegations or reasons for incarceration that may be more politically palatable to released or not prosecute). No one deserves a death sentence by preventable COVID infection.
Note also: I’m not even addressing efforts to make needed improvements to horrid, inhumane conditions inside of jails & prisons (predating yet exacerbated by the pandemic). No amount of condition improvement will make a difference as long as social distancing remains impossible.
Will address some responses when I have moments. Sheriff Tom Dart (Chicago) is among the worst offenders in the country. Numbers in his jail are nearing pre-pandemic. He fought against basic social distancing measures. He's great at PR. Terrible at caring. https://twitter.com/greenfoodserv/status/1332806015335735296?s=20
In March, Cassandra’s husband was caged in Chicago. Terrified of the COVID outbreak. “Is anyone surviving this?” She called Tom Dart & other leaders *132 times* to try to get help. His only response was using her husbands record to attack him after he died:
