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Anonymous ID: 06a301 March 23, 2020, 8:13 a.m. No.8531379   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>1436 >>1725 >>1837 >>1991 >>2056

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/opinion/nyc-jails-bail-coronavirus.html

 

Don’t Put More People in New York’s Jails During a Pandemic

 

The last thing New York needs right now, as it fights a deadly pandemic, is more people in jail.

 

So it is vital that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the State Legislature, who must reach a budget deal by April 1, resist calls to roll back criminal justice reforms, changes likely to be made through that budget agreement.

 

The reforms, which took effect Jan. 1, ban bail for defendants charged with most misdemeanor and nonviolent offenses.

 

For months now, even before the law went into effect, the state’s powerful law enforcement lobby has pushed to overturn key provisions of the reforms, blaming them for an uptick in crime. The evidence for that is circumstantial, at best.

 

The most concerning push is an effort by some law enforcement officials, including New York’s police commissioner, Dermot Shea, to go even further and change the state law to allow judges to consider the “dangerousness” of a defendant when setting bail.

 

This is a bad idea, and an unnecessary one. New York law didn’t allow such discretion before the reforms. Criminal justice experts say that is likely to worsen racial disparities in the courts. And for years in New York, judges used their discretion to regularly set bail poor people couldn’t afford.

 

Rolling back these reforms is almost certain to lead to an increase in the number of people in New York’s jails. In normal times, that would be unacceptable.

 

But as New York stares down one of the worst public health crises in a century, it is unthinkable.

 

Just ask the people who work in the jails. On Tuesday, the New York City Board of Correction, which oversees the jails, requested that the city and state “drastically” reduce the number of people in custody, which this week hovered around 5,400. The board asked the city to begin with the most vulnerable people in custody, and those serving sentences of under a year.

 

Over the past several days, a total of about 65 people were released from the city’s jails. The task may not be a simple one, but to make an impact, Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with the city’s prosecutors, who are involved in the process, will have to work much faster. They need help from Governor Cuomo, who can move to release state offenders who are in local jails because of technical parole violations.

 

This is not just a New York concern. Montana’s chief justice on Friday issued a letter to judges across that state asking them to take similar measures. “We ask that you review your jail rosters and release, without bond, as many prisoners as you are able, especially those being held for nonviolent offenses,” Mike McGrath, chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court, wrote.

 

In New York, at least one person in custody at Rikers, and one correction officer, have already tested positive for coronavirus.

 

On March 18, a day after the Board of Correction made the request, Ross MacDonald, the chief doctor at the Rikers Island jail complex, pleaded with officials to do more. “You must not leave them in harm’s way,” Dr. MacDonald wrote on Twitter. “We will put ourselves at personal risk and ask little in return. But we cannot change the fundamental nature of jail,” he continued. “A storm is coming and I know what I’ll be doing when it claims my first patient. What will you be doing? What will you have done? We have told you who is at risk. Please let as many out as you possibly can.”

 

A widespread coronavirus outbreak in New York’s jails would be catastrophic, leading to avoidable deaths and putting already vulnerable communities at greater risk.

 

Democrats are in a tough spot. The law enforcement lobby will continue to bring heat on them. New York Republicans will use the bail reforms as a wedge issue in the November elections.

 

But now is a time for political courage. Preserve the criminal justice reforms and focus on saving lives.

Anonymous ID: 06a301 March 23, 2020, 8:25 a.m. No.8531495   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>1586 >>1676 >>1746 >>1768

>>8531434

>https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-covid19-premiers-address-1.5506473

 

His address comes as the federal government launches a $30-million advertising campaign to raise awareness about the measures to stop the spread of infection.

 

The ads, featuring Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, will run for the rest of March and at least through April on all Canadian television networks and radio stations across the country, as well as in national, regional and local print outlets.