OAKLAND — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered California prison officials to expedite the release of up to 8,000 inmates in a move that follows mounting pressure from lawmakers and advocates to better limit the spread of the coronavirus among incarcerated Californians and prison staff.
“These actions are taken to provide for the health and safety of the incarcerated population and staff,” said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Ralph Diaz in a statement. “We aim to implement these decompression measures in a way that aligns both public health and public safety.”
The order applies to inmates who have less than a year remaining on their sentences and prohibits the early release of people serving time for domestic violence offenses or other violent crimes, or who are assessed to pose a high risk of violence. People who meet those criteria, are older than 30 and are incarcerated in a set of eight “high-risk” institutions could be eligible immediately, and some 4,800 inmates with fewer than six months remaining to serve could be authorized for release by the end of this month.
Outbreaks have flared at multiple California prisons — most notably at San Quentin State Prison, where the virus spread rapidly after officials transferred inmates from other facilities. Critics say prison transmissions prove the state has failed to contain a predictable vector for the pandemic's spread.
While corrections officials have acknowledged the San Quentin transfer error, they have pointed to thousands of inmate releases so far and preventative measures like mandating mask use, halting intakes and cleaning communal areas. Since the pandemic's start, some 2,300 inmates have tested positive, out of a statewide population of roughly 110,000, along with more than 800 prison staffers statewide.
Judges have rebuffed attempts to release more inmates, and while Newsom has described efforts to identify more people eligible for early release, he has also repeatedly said that prisons cannot release inmates unless they have places to go.
“What I can’t do is release people to the streets and sidewalks and parks and benches and call that compassion,” Newsom said on Thursday.
But lawmakers have upbraided Newsom and corrections officials for allowing the virus to spread in prisons and not doing more to institute widespread testing. They have also advocated unsuccessfully to halt the transfer of California inmates to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Prisons and jails have always loomed as a hazard because they hold people in close proximity, many of whom have greater medical vulnerability than the general population, and because staff move between those facilities and their communities.
Advocates and legislators lauded the decision even as some urged further action.
Jay Jordan, executive director of the criminal justice reform group Californians for Safety and Justice, said in a statement that state officials face "a moral imperative for bolder action to reduce overcrowding in our prisons."
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) also said in a statement that officials must do more to reduce overcrowding, but said the governor’s order Friday was a move in the right direction.
"This is a positive step to address the COVID-19 humanitarian disaster unfolding in our prison system, and I’m appreciative that the Governor and prison officials are taking this horrific situation seriously," Wiener said.
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