March 30, 2020 • 6 mins
Fearing a surge of coronavirus cases that could tear through prisons and jails, counties and states are releasing thousands of inmates. Health and corrections officials have issued warnings about cramped and unsanitary conditions that could spread the virus and put inmates, corrections officers, and prison healthcare workers at risk. Kimberly Kindy, national investigative reporter at the Washington Post, tells us who is getting out of jail.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Monday, March. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive
podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.
Fearing a surge of coronavirus cases that could tear through
prisons and jails, counties and states are releasing thousands of inmates.
Health and corrections officials have issued warnings about cramped and
unsanitary conditions that could spread the virus and put inmates,
(00:22):
corrections officers, and prison healthcare workers at risk. Kimberly Kindy,
national investigative reporter at the Washington Post, tells us who's
getting out of jail. Thanks for joining us, Kimberly, thanks
for having me. Amid fears that the coronavirus could spread
through prisons and jails, there's a lot of counties and
states that are releasing thousands of inmates. It's happening in California,
(00:45):
although they've reported no cases, especially when you look at
Los Angeles County, they've reduced their inmate population by six
percent in the last three weeks. Other states, obviously in
New Jersey, New York, everybody's looking into this. They just
don't want an outbreak to happen, for fear that the
prisoners can get the coronavirus themselves, and then also the
correctional officers and the medical staff that work inside those
(01:05):
prisons also could contract this. Kimberly, tell us a little
bit more about it. It's really interesting because with this movement,
and I guess I would say it's a movement, we're
seeing people who have all kinds of perspectives, conservative people,
progressive people, defense attorneys and public defenders who aren't necessarily
always on the same side, and they're actually coming together
(01:29):
in some areas in a very soft way to try
to identify the people who they think they can safely release,
so they can create some space in the jails and
the prisons, so that they can have a place where
they can isolate inmate if they become ill or if
somebody gets exposed, they had a place there to quarantine
(01:49):
inmates until they're sure. And then also to create social
distancing within the prisons. We're being told to stay six
feet apart. They need space within the prison, so they
can create that within the prisons so they can also
remain safe, and as you pointed out, so that not
only inmates remain safe, but everybody who works in the prisons,
remains safe in the jails. I mean they leave every day,
(02:13):
they go home to their families, they go back into
the communities, and so this is a national health concerns.
Talk a little bit about who would be eligible for this.
To be clear, there's not going to be violent criminals
being released through this. They're looking for people that are
within the last thirty days of their sentence already, or
non violent criminals, things like that. You know in the
(02:34):
county jails a lot of them. They're looking at somebody
in prison just are in jail just because they couldn't
make bail. There are a lot of people who just
if they could make bail, they would be out there
looking at people like that. They're looking at folks who
are definitely low risk offenders, non violent offenders. So if
you have somebody who, for instances eight years old and
(02:57):
they are a non violent offender, maybe they're a white
Hall are criminal, and they're looking at trying to get
them released back into society and in some cases back
into society. But on home confinement, a lot of these
people could be eligible for something like that. You still
have to do the home confinement as part of it,
and there's also the term being thrown around compassionate release,
(03:20):
so this would be also for elderly inmates and inmates
that have underlying medical conditions. There's a big push within
the federal system to expand pre existing programs. There's a
pilot program for the elderly that they can apply for
has been fully utilized. Their advocates that are pushing for
them to expand that. Yes, that's people who used to
(03:41):
be sixty five or older with the first step back,
which was a criminal Reform effort legislation that it went
from sixty five to sixty and so people who are
eligible are sixty and over now. Now there's a number
of criteriity. They have to fall into non violent people.
(04:03):
They can't be people who just arrived. And then there's
also the compassionate release program, which you just mentioned. That's
for people who generally speak and we're talking about people
who are gravely ill. My interviewed to Guy, a seventy
year old former doctor in prison because of Medicare fraud,
and he has a slew of health conditions that make
(04:25):
him particularly vulnerable to this virus, diabetes, all kinds of
heart problems. His wife has Alzheimer's, so he's also trying
to get out to take care of her. This is
the kind of person who they're trying to get home
into home confinement. This is also changing policing and also
how prosecutors attack stuff. As one district attorney put it,
(04:46):
we're not putting low level punks in jail at the moment.
How do police officers and even the correctional officers, I guess,
how do they all feel about this approach. It's a
mixed bag. I certainly have interviewed officers who feel like
they did the crime they need to do the time.
They still have that position, and so you do not
have a universal acceptance of this, to be sure. But
(05:09):
I think that most of the people who are trying
to manage the jail population and keep it safe, they
are trying to change the thought process on this and
are trying to convince the law and order types that
these are extraordinary times that if you have somebody who
has a warrant out for a number of traffic tickets,
(05:30):
this isn't the time to throw them in jail. This
is the time to maybe revisit that. And yes, there's
some conflict, and there's certainly some people who are pushing back,
but there is an indisputable movement towards trying to find
a solution, to finding the right people to release early
so that the jail population does not become the next
(05:53):
cruise ship. And there's a great fear that it's going
to become like that because of the conditions condition it's
not as sanitary maybe as most places, people packed really
closely together, a lot of people who are not the
healthiest people on Earth, and it's, by everyone's thought process,
(06:14):
a recipe for disaster. So I think what's amazing is
that what you're seeing is both conservatives and progresses actually
come together on this and trying to find solution. There
may be some dispute about how far to go or
what the past should be, but there is rigorous discussion
about how to handle this. Kimberly Kindy, national investigative reporter
(06:37):
at the Washington Post, thank you very much for joining us.
Thank you for having me. I'm Oscar Emiris and this
has been your daily coronavirus update. You don't forget that.
For more top news stories, you can catch me on
the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow
us on my heart radio or subscribe wherever you get
your podcast,
It's Monday, March. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive
podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.
Fearing a surge of coronavirus cases that could tear through
prisons and jails, counties and states are releasing thousands of inmates.
Health and corrections officials have issued warnings about cramped and
unsanitary conditions that could spread the virus and put inmates,
(00:22):
corrections officers, and prison healthcare workers at risk. Kimberly Kindy,
national investigative reporter at the Washington Post, tells us who's
getting out of jail. Thanks for joining us, Kimberly, thanks
for having me. Amid fears that the coronavirus could spread
through prisons and jails, there's a lot of counties and
states that are releasing thousands of inmates. It's happening in California,
(00:45):
although they've reported no cases, especially when you look at
Los Angeles County, they've reduced their inmate population by six
percent in the last three weeks. Other states, obviously in
New Jersey, New York, everybody's looking into this. They just
don't want an outbreak to happen, for fear that the
prisoners can get the coronavirus themselves, and then also the
correctional officers and the medical staff that work inside those
(01:05):
prisons also could contract this. Kimberly, tell us a little
bit more about it. It's really interesting because with this movement,
and I guess I would say it's a movement, we're
seeing people who have all kinds of perspectives, conservative people,
progressive people, defense attorneys and public defenders who aren't necessarily
always on the same side, and they're actually coming together
(01:29):
in some areas in a very soft way to try
to identify the people who they think they can safely release,
so they can create some space in the jails and
the prisons, so that they can have a place where
they can isolate inmate if they become ill or if
somebody gets exposed, they had a place there to quarantine
(01:49):
inmates until they're sure. And then also to create social
distancing within the prisons. We're being told to stay six
feet apart. They need space within the prison, so they
can create that within the prisons so they can also
remain safe, and as you pointed out, so that not
only inmates remain safe, but everybody who works in the prisons,
remains safe in the jails. I mean they leave every day,
(02:13):
they go home to their families, they go back into
the communities, and so this is a national health concerns.
Talk a little bit about who would be eligible for this.
To be clear, there's not going to be violent criminals
being released through this. They're looking for people that are
within the last thirty days of their sentence already, or
non violent criminals, things like that. You know in the
(02:34):
county jails a lot of them. They're looking at somebody
in prison just are in jail just because they couldn't
make bail. There are a lot of people who just
if they could make bail, they would be out there
looking at people like that. They're looking at folks who
are definitely low risk offenders, non violent offenders. So if
you have somebody who, for instances eight years old and
(02:57):
they are a non violent offender, maybe they're a white
Hall are criminal, and they're looking at trying to get
them released back into society and in some cases back
into society. But on home confinement, a lot of these
people could be eligible for something like that. You still
have to do the home confinement as part of it,
and there's also the term being thrown around compassionate release,
(03:20):
so this would be also for elderly inmates and inmates
that have underlying medical conditions. There's a big push within
the federal system to expand pre existing programs. There's a
pilot program for the elderly that they can apply for
has been fully utilized. Their advocates that are pushing for
them to expand that. Yes, that's people who used to
(03:41):
be sixty five or older with the first step back,
which was a criminal Reform effort legislation that it went
from sixty five to sixty and so people who are
eligible are sixty and over now. Now there's a number
of criteriity. They have to fall into non violent people.
(04:03):
They can't be people who just arrived. And then there's
also the compassionate release program, which you just mentioned. That's
for people who generally speak and we're talking about people
who are gravely ill. My interviewed to Guy, a seventy
year old former doctor in prison because of Medicare fraud,
and he has a slew of health conditions that make
(04:25):
him particularly vulnerable to this virus, diabetes, all kinds of
heart problems. His wife has Alzheimer's, so he's also trying
to get out to take care of her. This is
the kind of person who they're trying to get home
into home confinement. This is also changing policing and also
how prosecutors attack stuff. As one district attorney put it,
(04:46):
we're not putting low level punks in jail at the moment.
How do police officers and even the correctional officers, I guess,
how do they all feel about this approach. It's a
mixed bag. I certainly have interviewed officers who feel like
they did the crime they need to do the time.
They still have that position, and so you do not
have a universal acceptance of this, to be sure. But
(05:09):
I think that most of the people who are trying
to manage the jail population and keep it safe, they
are trying to change the thought process on this and
are trying to convince the law and order types that
these are extraordinary times that if you have somebody who
has a warrant out for a number of traffic tickets,
(05:30):
this isn't the time to throw them in jail. This
is the time to maybe revisit that. And yes, there's
some conflict, and there's certainly some people who are pushing back,
but there is an indisputable movement towards trying to find
a solution, to finding the right people to release early
so that the jail population does not become the next
(05:53):
cruise ship. And there's a great fear that it's going
to become like that because of the conditions condition it's
not as sanitary maybe as most places, people packed really
closely together, a lot of people who are not the
healthiest people on Earth, and it's, by everyone's thought process,
(06:14):
a recipe for disaster. So I think what's amazing is
that what you're seeing is both conservatives and progresses actually
come together on this and trying to find solution. There
may be some dispute about how far to go or
what the past should be, but there is rigorous discussion
about how to handle this. Kimberly Kindy, national investigative reporter
(06:37):
at the Washington Post, thank you very much for joining us.
Thank you for having me. I'm Oscar Emiris and this
has been your daily coronavirus update. You don't forget that.
For more top news stories, you can catch me on
the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow
us on my heart radio or subscribe wherever you get
your podcast,
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