Rikers Releases 28 Inmates Amidst Coronavirus
Rikers Island released another 28 inmates on Thursday amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
According to Legal Aid Society, the 28 inmates had violated the terms of their parole and had been given the option to transfer to a 90-day or 45-day drug treatment program at a Department of Corrections and Community Supervision-run facility, however, due to the virus they were no longer accepting prison transfers.
The inmates were stuck at Rikers with the high possibility of getting infected with the Coronavirus, thus, Justice Alvin Yearwood approved for the men to be released. Legal Aid argued that this violated the inmates’ rights by keeping them stranded at the prison.
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“We are glad that the court recognized that their continued incarceration infringed upon basic due process rights and placed them each in grave danger of contracting COVID-19,” Legal Aid Society lawyer Elon Harpaz. ”For DOCCS to have left them in limbo, with no end in sight to their incarceration, waiting to be infected with COVID-19, worried that they might become seriously ill or even die, is unconscionable.”
Per Legal Aid, 287 of those incarcerated in NewYork have tested positive for COVID-19. 6.6percent of people incarcerated at City jails have also contracted the virus.
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