Read on Twitter
Thread:
Earlier today we had a Twitter Storm that trended nationally around the hashtag #LetMIPeopleGo
There were a lot of questions, so I will try to answer them
1. Why?
This was to bring attention to the plight of people incarcerated in Michigan during COVID
Earlier today we had a Twitter Storm that trended nationally around the hashtag #LetMIPeopleGo
There were a lot of questions, so I will try to answer them
1. Why?
This was to bring attention to the plight of people incarcerated in Michigan during COVID
2. Why people in prison?
People in prison are MUCH more likely to catch COVID and much more likely to die once they have caught COVID
We don't have the death penalty in Michigan, none of these folks were sentenced to die & now 89 have died from COVID
#LetMIPeopleGo
People in prison are MUCH more likely to catch COVID and much more likely to die once they have caught COVID
We don't have the death penalty in Michigan, none of these folks were sentenced to die & now 89 have died from COVID
#LetMIPeopleGo
3. Why would you call for release...lots of reasons but first and foremost, we had a list of specific demands (I will link those at the end of the thread)
One reason? Peer-reviewed medical experts have suggested it....you can read a whole book https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
One reason? Peer-reviewed medical experts have suggested it....you can read a whole book https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
Here is more
“To promote public health, we believe that efforts to decarcerate...need to be scaled up; and associated reductions of incarcerated populations should be sustained” - New England Journal Of Medicine
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2005687?fbclid=IwAR2ZCntaDAKmLMzBX544lkRPL344bGMklN8mbghZkNgvU6XRoP0H9WLSF9A
“To promote public health, we believe that efforts to decarcerate...need to be scaled up; and associated reductions of incarcerated populations should be sustained” - New England Journal Of Medicine
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2005687?fbclid=IwAR2ZCntaDAKmLMzBX544lkRPL344bGMklN8mbghZkNgvU6XRoP0H9WLSF9A
Here is another quote from the National Academy of Sciences
“Decarceration is an appropriate and necessary mitigation strategy...and would reduce risks of exposure to and transmission of the disease”
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
“Decarceration is an appropriate and necessary mitigation strategy...and would reduce risks of exposure to and transmission of the disease”
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
4. Why would you release people who might have committed violent crime?
.J. Prescott, Benjamin Pyle & Sonja B. Starr, “UNDERSTANDING VIOLENT-CRIME RECIDIVISM” Notre Dame Law Review, Forthcoming, Posted April 2020 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3571912J
Explains a lot of this
.J. Prescott, Benjamin Pyle & Sonja B. Starr, “UNDERSTANDING VIOLENT-CRIME RECIDIVISM” Notre Dame Law Review, Forthcoming, Posted April 2020 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3571912J
Explains a lot of this
That groundbreaking research explained that people who have served over five years for a violent crime and are over the age of 50 almost never commit another crime
If people are in high-risk groups and meet these criteria, the risk of their death is very high and the risk of recidivism is very low....You are, in essence, potentially fatally holding them to weigh against a very low-risk of future crimes
In fact, they are actually a LOWER risk than many of the folks some of you have been asking to release (not that I oppose releases)
5. Why @GovWhitmer
I like her too, I have met her, I voted for her
But we have had 13, 940 positive COVID tests in a population of 34,000 people in prison with 89 deaths and our Governor has not commuted ONE sentence or used any emergency powers to help the folks at risk
I like her too, I have met her, I voted for her
But we have had 13, 940 positive COVID tests in a population of 34,000 people in prison with 89 deaths and our Governor has not commuted ONE sentence or used any emergency powers to help the folks at risk
6. So what are your demands...I laid them out during the Twitter storm....first and foremost meeting with us to discuss what is happening in Michigan prisons...but here is the rest (you can click on it and scroll down) there are 7 demands https://twitter.com/JoshuaBHoe/status/1334166043070259200?s=20
7. I also believe there will be political pressure for the governor to withhold vaccines from people in prisons and that would be a deadly decision....people in prisons are at higher risk of contracting the virus and a much higher risk of dying from the virus
#LetMIPeopleGo
#LetMIPeopleGo
Evidence?
“Incarcerated individuals were also at approximately twice the risk of death than other patients”
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll
Source: Decarcerating Correctional Facilities During COVID-19 https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
“Incarcerated individuals were also at approximately twice the risk of death than other patients”
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll
Source: Decarcerating Correctional Facilities During COVID-19 https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
8. Lots of people say "if you do the crime you should do the time"
I find that article very unpersuasive and here is a ten minute video explaining why
I find that article very unpersuasive and here is a ten minute video explaining why
But I would also add that people in prison were not sentenced to death or to get intubated because of COVID....prison makes people much more vulnerable
Evidence?
“Compared with patients from the general public, larger percentages of incarcerated individuals were admitted to the ICU and required intubation”
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll
Source: Decarcerating Correctional Facilities During COVID-19 https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
“Compared with patients from the general public, larger percentages of incarcerated individuals were admitted to the ICU and required intubation”
#LetMIPeopleGo #FreeThemAll
Source: Decarcerating Correctional Facilities During COVID-19 https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25945/decarcerating-correctional-facilities-during-covid-19-advancing-health-equity-and
I would also ask people to look deep in their hearts and truly ask themselves if they ever did something - for which they were never charged or tried - that could have gotten them incarcerated....I suspect, for the vast majority, the answer is yes
Remember, people in prison have family, friends, kids....people love and need them too....and people who work in prisons bring COVID from prison into your communities too.....and we should care about people who work in our facilities as well
So, if you had other questions, I will try to answer them....but hopefully, this helps you understand why so many of us were sharing messaging using the hashtag
#LetMIPeopleGo
Today....peace
#LetMIPeopleGo
Today....peace
Oh one other thing....we didn't come to this cavalierly, it was not a "liberal plot," and it was evidence-based and experience-based..
You can certainly disagree, but the hot takes were getting to be a lot (in fact the demands were negotiated working with several legislators)
You can certainly disagree, but the hot takes were getting to be a lot (in fact the demands were negotiated working with several legislators)
