PHILADELPHIA _ Thousands of inmates in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are eligible to be temporarily released from prison in a measure to decrease the incarcerated population as the coronavirus spreads and outbreaks in jails sprout across the country.
On Friday, governors in both states invoked executive powers to establish processes that would offer some nonviolent inmates a temporary reprieve of their sentences by placing them under house arrest or parole.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the program would offer as many as 1,800 state prison inmates a reprieve, and that eligible defendants include those 65 or older, anyone with autoimmune disorders, pregnant women, and inmates with chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer or other ailments that make them more vulnerable to serious coronavirus complications.
The inmates, who could be released as soon as Tuesday, would be monitored and supervised by parole agents while under house arrest and would have to return to prison to complete their sentences once the state's emergency order ends. Corrections officials said inmates will undergo a medical screening prior to release to ensure sick individuals aren't fanning out across the state.
As of Friday morning, 11 inmates and at least 6 corrections officers at one state prison _ SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County _ had tested positive for the virus, according to the Department of Corrections.
"We can reduce our nonviolent prison population and leave fewer inmates at risk for contracting COVID-19 while maintaining public safety with this program," Wolf said in a statement.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order establishing that state's process for putting some inmates in temporary home confinement or to be granted parole. The process will begin over the next few days, Murphy said, but could take up to a week from the time an application is submitted and reviewed for someone to be released to home confinement or paroled.
Eligible inmates include people whose age or health status puts them at an increased risk, and who have not been convicted of serious crimes such as murder or sexual assault. Also eligible for release are individuals denied parole in the past year or whose sentences expire within the next three months.
Murphy's announcement came as officials said a Middlesex County correctional officer had died from the virus. Nelson Perdomo, 44, worked at East Jersey Station Prison for 19 years.
"A virus this virulent can spread rapidly in a densely populated prison setting," the governor said, "and the needs of public safety and public health must be balanced."
New Jersey Department of Corrections Commissioner Marcus Hicks said 129 state corrections staff members had been "impacted by the virus." Twenty inmates have tested positive, he said, and one has died. More than 1,000 asymptomatic employees and 400 asymptomatic inmates are in medical quarantine due to possible exposure to the coronavirus.
"You can imagine when you're running a correctional facility, in a correctional setting, that there are unique challenges in trying to implement social distancing," Hicks said.
Public health advocates have called on governors for weeks to reduce the jail population as concern has risen surrounding detention centers _ with their close quarters, limited hygiene, and inability to follow social distancing guidelines _ as possible vectors for a coronavirus outbreak that could spread from inmates and guards to the surrounding community. For example, in Chicago, the Cook County Jail has become the single largest hot spot in the United States, the New York Times reported this week.
In Pennsylvania, Wolf called for the legislature to establish a framework for releasing some inmates, but it became snarled in Harrisburg this week. Advocates called Wolf's order Friday a positive first step after weeks of delay.
Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which petitioned the state Supreme Court last week for a categorical release of potentially hundreds of inmates, said Wolf's move "must not be the last step."
"Public health experts say that Pennsylvania is on the verge of bending the curve of outbreak of this pandemic," Shuford said. "If an outbreak were to occur in a Pennsylvania prison or jail, it could threaten to erase the progress we've made in the commonwealth."
The orders apply to state prison inmates in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but similar efforts are underway to thin the jail population in some county detention centers. Last week, the state Supreme Court ordered judges in every county to monitor jails' handling of the spread of the virus, and if they couldn't comply with social distancing guidelines, to set up a process to consider releasing some nonviolent or high-risk inmates.
And in addition to expedited reviews for release, advocates across the country, Philadelphia included, are posting bail for those who are incarcerated and awaiting trial.
As of Friday, there were 64 positive cases at city correctional facilities, officials said.
