Californiaâs top prisons official has ordered almost 3,500 inmates released early, according to a filing Tuesday in federal court, to thin populations in the overcrowded system in hopes of preventing or slowing an outbreak of COVID-19.
The expedited releases are for those with fewer than 60 days left on their sentences, who were not convicted of violent crimes, sex crimes or domestic violence offenses.
âThese non-violent inmates will either be released on parole, released to community supervision or directly discharged,â Ralph Diaz, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation secretary, wrote in a legal filing.
He added that inmates released under the plan âwill have appropriate release and transition plansâ in place. Releases are scheduled to begin âas soon as practicable, including within the upcoming days and weeks,â the filing says.
Attorneys for inmates called it a positive step but insufficient to address the threat.
âWe need a far more significant plan for population reduction,â said attorney Michael Bien, who brought a long-running civil lawsuit that brought improvements to mental health care for Californiaâs more than 120,000 inmates.
Bien filed an emergency motion in federal court last week warning that the coronavirus posed a threat to all people in Californiaâs 35 prisons, but especially to older inmates or people with chronic medical conditions who often live in crowded dorms.
He said the response from state officials doesnât address that population.
âThe most significant thing that’s missing is no effort at all to identify and release the medically vulnerable who are most at risk of contracting COVID-19 and having bad outcomes,â Bien said.
A special panel of three federal judges is scheduled to hear arguments on the emergency motion and the stateâs response on Thursday.
A total of four inmates have confirmed cases of COVID-19 — three in Los Angeles County state prison and one in the California Institution for Men in Chino. The prison system reports testing 243 inmates for the virus as of Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, 25 staff members from 11 institutions had reported confirmed cases of the respiratory illness. The highest concentration of staff cases, 11, are from the Chino facility.
State officials have already suspended public visits to prisons, limited transportation between institutions, and started screening employees for fevers using infrared technology.
In papers filed in court Tuesday, attorneys for California argued against a mandatory prisoner reduction.
They proposed additional measures to reduce exposure among inmates, such as the transfer of hundreds of asymptomatic people out of dorms at three of the state prisons to penitentiaries with more space.
The state argues that Gov. Gavin Newsomâs March 24 executive order to stop the intake of new prisoners combined with the routine release of people whoâve served their sentences would result in 3,000 fewer inmates in the prisons each month.
âCaliforniaâs already swift and unprecedented response to the crisis obviates the need for the further judicial intervention into and micromanagement of the stateâs prison system,â the filing says.
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