Covid-19 Inmate Releases Top 67,000

Data compiled by UCLA indicates that over 67,000 criminals have been released from jails and prisons across the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Daniel Horowitz has this piece in the Conservative Review noting that, “this has nothing to do with fear of prisoners dying of coronavirus. Just a few hundred deaths have been recorded out of a population of 2.2 million inmates, lower than that of the general population.  In most prisons, the overwhelming majority of those who got the virus have been asymptomatic and are now already immune and have been for quite some time. Thus, there is no reason to release large numbers of convicted criminals, most of whom are young and healthy.   This has everything to do with accelerating an already dangerous de-incarceration movement, which is why you shouldn’t hold your breath and wait for them to be re-apprehended after the virus burns out.”

Liberal politicians and the media continue to push for more releases although the just released Bureau of Justice Statistics report for 2018 indicates that incarceration rates are the lowest in 26 years, and for blacks the rate reached a 30-year low.  Horowitz notes that Hawaii has released 38% of its jail population although there has not been one confirmed coronavirus case in the jails and only 17 deaths among the general population.  The inmates are actually safer in jail than on the streets.  Earlier this month a Hawaiian criminal was arrested for murder two weeks after receiving his pandemic release.  In New York, shootings are up 21% and break-ins have jumped 38% this year.  19% of the suspected gunmen were released this year.  “As of 2018, at 23.2 victimizations per 1,000 persons, anyone outside a nursing home is several hundred times more likely to be victimized by a violent crime than to die of coronavirus. With the release of so many more criminals since 2018, that risk has likely grown exponentially. Has anyone asked Dr. Fauci to simulate a model of these forgotten COVID-19 deaths?”