Covid-19 and Inmates
By Albert B. Kelly
Within the past week, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued
Executive Order 124 which authorizes the DOC Commissioner to furlough certain
inmates to home-confinement from state prison due to the Covid-19 pandemic and
the threat posed to those in prison, including officers. I’m not the betting
sort, but if I were, I’d bet that this EO stirs a strong range of responses.
I say that, because some will be vehemently opposed pointing
out the risk to public safety, the potential for more Covid-19 carriers, and burdens
on the system. Others believe that if Covid-19 takes hold in that type of
institutional setting, it will spread like wildfire with a high body
count.
For all of that, it should be pointed out that this is not a
random or haphazard release of prisoners back into the community. EO 124 sets
out a fairly robust and thorough review process for an inmate to get a furlough
to home-confinement. The process involves a series of lists to be vetted by the
State Parole Board and an Emergency Medical Review Committee.
The first tier to be considered for furlough is inmates 60
years old and older with underlying medical conditions. The second tier of inmates
for consideration is those 60 years old and older without medical conditions or
other ages with underlying medical conditions. The next tiers includes those serving
a prison sentence with either their maximum release date or parole eligibility within
90 days of the date the list is generated.
Once these lists have been created, they go to the Director
of the Division of Criminal Justice and to the County Prosecutors who must
notify victims or next of kin about the possibility of a home-confinement furlough.
Then the prosecuting agency gets to weigh-in with the parole board and the Emergency
Medical Review Committee as do victims or next of kin, where applicable.
Once this process for the emergency medical lists is completed,
the parole board will expedite hearings for parole-eligible inmates with first
consideration given to those on the first list (60 or older with medical
conditions) and then the second list (60 or older without underlying medical
condition or other ages with underlying medical conditions), and so on down the
line.
A furlough is to home-confinement so this assumes that inmates
need a home to go to or a community sponsor providing a place to be, a
supervision plan that includes social services where needed, for many this also
involves telephonic check-ins or electronic monitoring, a special ID they must
carry, and other measures.
Granted, the issues surrounding inmates and Covid-19 are not
simple nor are they one-size-fits all. For older people and those with medical
conditions, Covid-19 could well be a death sentence no matter what side of the
bars they’re on so it should matter whether or not some or most of the people who
might make one of these lists didn’t commit crimes worthy of such a penalty.
This mess also involves the issue of racial disparities
because if Covid-19 sweeps through the prison population, it’s going to be mostly
black and Latino impacted or even dying - blacks represent 14% of the state’s
population but 55% of the state’s inmates whereas whites are 59% of the state’s
population but just 25% of the state’s inmates.
I understand the concerns surrounding public safety, which
is why local officials have strongly opposed the transfer of inmates from
facilities in other parts of the state into our neck of the woods and will
continue to do so. As for the older people being considered for home
confinement, it helps to recall that older people (i.e. 60 and older) do
age-out of crime.
As for healthcare in prison, inmates have $5 co-pays for
whatever care they receive. That’s in line with what some folks pay on the
outside, but if you’re earning 26 cents an hour at a prison job, you’ve got to
work some 19 hours just cover one co-pay.
Thankfully, co-pays have been waived for Covid-19 related care in
prison, but still.
Given the breadth and scope of this pandemic, what to do
about those who are incarcerated is not an easy or simple thing and it wasn’t
when the issue was county jail inmates. The easy decision is to let the chips
fall where they may in prisons and jails since inmates are an unsympathetic
bunch, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always the right decision.