Indeed, correctional facilities have seen some of the most horrific outbreaks of the pandemic, including one in the Anamosa State Penitentiary in Iowa where 77% of the population has tested positive as of November 20, 2020, and one in Avenal State Prison in California, where more than 85% of the inmates have tested positive as of November 11, 2020.”Įnding cash bail is a measured response, says the Public Defender in the brief.
“What was only a hypothesis in April has since been proven: Prisons are especially susceptible to the spread of COVID-19 because of the large number of people housed and working in close quarters. “This was the correct course,” notes the brief.
The brief goes on to describe efforts to reduce the prison population in April, early in the pandemic, with the release of “certain inmates whose sentences were expiring within ninety days.” As now has been demonstrated across the country and in Rhode Island, prison outbreaks imperil us all.” The Public Defender argues in their brief that this “extraordinary remedy is necessary to alleviate the serious health risks posed to inmates, Department of Corrections ( DOC) employees, and the general public by continued mass incarceration during the current outbreak of … COVID-19. The Rhode Island Public Defender‘s office is petitioning the Rhode Island Supreme Court to “issue an order to modify the Bail Guidelines to temporarily require the setting of personal recognizance bail – including in alleged violations of probation – except in extraordinary circumstances that must be enumerated on the record.” This would effectively and temporarily end the cash bail in Rhode Island at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging at the Adult Correctional Institutions ( ACI). The Formerly Incarcerated Union issues statement calling on Governor Gina Raimondo to do more to protect prison staff, residents and their families. Dr Jennifer Clarke, the now former medical programs director at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, added her support to the petition in an affidavit.
0 kommentar(er)
