California to release 8000 prisoners due to COVID-19 News
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California to release 8000 prisoners due to COVID-19

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has announced that it will release 8,000 inmates from prisons to prevent further COVID-19 spread in prison populations.

The CDCR and Governor Gavin Newsom have agreed to release the prisoners despite earlier court rulings that held that California was under no legal obligation to do so. The CDCR previously released 10,000 inmates from prison populations to combat COVID-19 spread.

Reacting to the news Friday, Anne Irwin, director of Smart Justice California, a nonprofit dedicated to criminal justice reform, said:

After witnessing the deadly effects of COVID-19 inside California’s dangerously overcrowded prisons, Governor Newsom’s plan is the right decision to help protect the lives of people living and working inside prisons and in surrounding communities. In taking this important step, the Governor is following the universal advice of public health and medical experts. We applaud the Governor for working on two crucial fronts: getting the most vulnerable people out of harm’s way and stemming the spread of COVID-19 inside prisons and neighboring communities.

The CDCR hopes to release the prisoners by the end of August.

 

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