Richmond, Virginia (AP) — Stephanie Paris had been sentenced to two years in probation by violating probation when she heard she was going home three weeks early due to COVID-19.
When left at the Fulbana Women’s Correction Center for a few days, she felt uncomfortable to leave. She said she wasn’t ill and had no institutional cases. However, there were still some who could have used the grace period.
“I would have helped someone who was 9 or 10 months old and absolutely needed it,” she recently said. “There is a very old woman there and she has very bad health problems. I would have given her my place.”
According to a nationwide analysis of The Marshall Project and The, between March and June, more than 100,000 people fell by 800 million, and were released from state and federal prisons. AP communication. Drops range from 2% in Virginia to 32% in Rhode Island. According to the Bella Justice of Justice report on prison population, by comparison, state and federal prison population fell by 2.2% in 2019 overall.
However, detailed data from the eight states compiled by the Marshall Project and AP show that efforts to release vulnerable prisoners for health reasons and control the spread of the virus that is spreading in prisons this year. The decline has not come. According to data and experts, instead of the prison ceasing to accept new prisoners from prisons to avoid virus imports, the number of personnel dropped significantly, and due to the closure of the court, those who were held in jail And fewer parole officers have sent them back for low-level violations, so if these wheels start moving despite the virus, the numbers could increase again.
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The story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and the Marshall Project, investigating the state of the prison system in a coronavirus pandemic. Damini Sharma and Weihua Li have joined the Marshall project.
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In Virginia, about 250 prisoners were released as crackdown regulators to minimize the spread of the virus, accounting for less than half of the state’s population decline between March and June. I found.
Governor Gavin Newtham of California ordered the release of up to 8,000 people by the end of August after a series of coronaviruses in a state prison last week. Between mid-March and mid-June, California’s prison population declined by more than 7,000. Less than half of that can be attributed to early state decisions to release vulnerable prisoners early.
Since the outbreak began, more than 57,000 prisoners have been tested for coronavirus positivity at facilities across the country. Of those, at least 34,000 recovered and at least 651 died, the data showed. Over 12,400 infections have been reported among staff, including 46 deaths.
Experts and supporters say that the public’s perception of public security threats from those released early for COVID-19 is a push to the larger criminal justice reform movement, especially the reduction in prison population. Is likely to affect.
Many may qualify for the initial release, but few have actually gone out. In April, Pennsylvania launched a temporary grace program. This allows the state’s correctional department to bring people home, provided they return and finish their sentences after the pandemic. The Governor’s Office predicted that more than 1,500 would be released.
So far, the state’s correctional department has recommended 1,200 grace periods, but the application process is slow and cumbersome. Each application requires the approval of the governor, the Attorney General, and the district assistant who oversees the original belief.
Almost three months later, less than 160 were released through the relief program, but the total prison population in Pennsylvania fell by 2,800.
Similar to Pennsylvania, data from states such as North Carolina, Illinois, and New Jersey show that coronavirus release accounts for less than one-third of the decline in prison population, and something else is causing the decline. Suggests that The pandemic has slowed down the entire criminal justice system, leaving fewer people in jail, according to Martin Horn, an emeritus professor at the Criminal Justice College of John Jay and formerly chairman of the New York City Amendment Committee.
Prior to the pandemic, paroleers had to meet directly with parole officials. According to Horn, these meetings have been mostly over the phone for the past four months, with people on parole not being monitored and unlikely to be returned to prison for breaking rules.
Even many who have been sentenced to crime have not been transferred to prison. In North Carolina, the court has established a two-month grace period for accepting newly sentenced individuals in prison. John Bull, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, was in prison waiting for about 1,800 people to be transferred to prison when the moratorium was lifted in May.
Whether the prison population will increase after the pandemic is mitigated depends, in part, on how it perceives the liberated people so far, a prison that is a bipartisan think tank focused on mass imprisonment. Wanda Bertram, spokeswoman for the policy initiative, said.
For example, if there is little support for people leaving the prison and they become homeless, Bertram fears he might be more likely to be arrested for sleeping on the streets, and the community has released early release. May be associated with more crimes.
At the age of 78 in a few weeks, Garland King spent 12 years in North Carolina prison for shooting and killing his son-in-law during the debate. Like many older prisoners, he has medical problems such as asthma and arthritis.
King was scheduled to be released in June, but on April 17, he became one of nearly 500 prisoners fired early for good behavior. His wife died two years ago, so she had to find a home and apply for social welfare services. He was too worried about everything and had little to eat until his freedom, resulting in a medical crisis. He eventually found a home through a community health program in Durham, North Carolina.
Nazgol Ghandnoosh, a senior research analyst at the Sentencing Project advocate for prison reform, said the decline in prison population is a step in the right direction but disappointing. Even if COVID-19’s release policy worked as intended, Gandnoche may still exclude violent criminals from such releases, which may not be enough to reduce prison population.
“We send a lot of people to prisons and keep them there for a long time, but studies show that older people are at the highest risk of COVID-19 and the lowest risk of recidivism. Regardless, we haven’t released them yet,” said Gandnoche.
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Lauer reported from Philadelphia. Sharma reported from Mountain View, California, and Lee from Stamford, Connecticut.
