NJ Will Release 3,000 Prisoners After Election To Fight COVID-19 – Montclair, NJ Patch

NEW JERSEY — Rory Price almost made it home from prison alive. And that’s a big reason why his death from the coronavirus hurts so badly, his mother says.

But under a new law, thousands of New Jersey inmates in Price’s shoes may now get a reprieve from the same fate.

On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy signed S2519/A4235 into law, which will mean an early release for about 3,000 inmates nearing the ends of their sentences in state prisons over the next few months.

Under the new law, eligible inmates and parolees can get four months of “credit” for every month they serve during a public health emergency such as the coronavirus pandemic. It will apply to adults and juveniles with less than a year of their sentences left. Anyone who is serving a sentence for murder or aggravated sexual assault, or who has been deemed a “repetitive, compulsive sex offender” would not be eligible.

According to the ACLU of New Jersey, it will literally be the difference between life and death for inmates in a state prison system with the highest COVID-19 fatality rate in the nation.

ACLU-NJ spokespeople said the state will see an unprecedented, 13 percent drop in its prison population on Nov. 4.

“On that day, [the law] will result in the early release of more than 2,000 people who were due to be released within the next eight months,” the nonprofit said. “Another 1,000 people stand to be released in the coming months.”

By January, New Jersey should see a 19 percent drop in its overall prison population, the ACLU-NJ estimated.

The new law is also expected to help protect the safety of prison correctional officers and other staff members, its supporters say.

Sadly, the law comes too late to save the life of inmates such as Price, who died from the disease while still in state custody at the age of 39.

His bereaved mother, Bernice Ferguson, said her son was a “joyous young man” with a laugh that could make anyone happy. He’d been eagerly awaiting his release from prison under Murphy’s previous executive order, which allowed some “low-risk” inmates in state prisons and halfway houses to be placed in temporary home confinement during the COVID-19 crisis.

To be eligible, inmates had to have faced an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 because of their age or health status. Nobody convicted of a serious crime – such as murder, or sexual assault – was considered, Murphy said.

But then – just weeks before Price was scheduled to come home – he was rushed to the hospital, where he later died of coronavirus-related complications, Ferguson said.

“This law unfortunately comes too late to save my son,” Ferguson mourned. “But thankfully, it can save other mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and countless loved ones the heartbreak I have been through from knowing my child’s death could have been prevented.”

‘USING THE POWERS OF DEMOCRACY’

Murphy said that the inmate population in state correctional facilities has decreased by nearly 3,000 people, or 16 percent, since March. That includes more than 1,200 people who were released under Executive Order 124.

Thanks to the efforts of correctional leadership, the COVID-19 positivity rate in state prisons is at a low of 0.09 percent, Murphy said.

“But the threat of COVID-19 is still present,” he added.

Primary sponsors of the law include Senators Nellie Pou and Sandra Cunningham, and Assemblymembers Raj Mukherji, Shavonda Sumter and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson.

Sen. Pou said that New Jersey is making history by becoming the first state to use its “powers of democracy” to slow the devastation of COVID-19 in its prisons.

“When you’re dealing with a virus whose ability to spread depends on our inability to social distance and quarantine, our prisons are just not equipped to handle it,” Assemblyman Mukherji said.

The ACLU-NJ, New Jersey Prison Justice Watch, Salvation and Social Justice, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, AFSC Prison Watch and more than 100 advocacy groups and religious congregations pushed for the bill and celebrated its passage.

“The spread of COVID-19 in New Jersey’s prisons, and our highest-in-the-nation death rate, has been a matter of public health, a matter of racial justice and a matter of life and death,” ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha said.

“This law serves as a roadmap for the rest of the nation to avoid the devastation we have seen here,” Sinha added.

The Rev. Charles Boyer, who also serves as the founding director of Salvation and Social Justice, pointed out that the state also has “worst-in-the-country disparities” when it comes to Black and white prison rates.

“More than any hashtag or protest sign, the signing of this bill into law shows the reality that Black lives matter,” Boyer said.

Other efforts have been made to address COVID-19 vulnerability in prisons on the county level.

In March, – amid reports of hunger strikes and confirmed COVID-19 cases at several jails across New Jersey – state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner signed an order calling for the temporary release of up to 1,000 inmates in county jails as a way to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

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