SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California plans to release another 2,100 inmates and in total will release more than 10,000 state inmates early in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In all, California's efforts could free nearly 10% of prisoners as Gov. Gavin Newsom responds to intensifying pressure from advocates, lawmakers and federal judges. His latest effort will soon free about 2,100 inmates by granting most a one-time three-month credit.
It follows other measures that are expected to quickly lead to the release of about 8,300 inmates six months before they normally would have been paroled.
The 12-week credit applies to every inmate except those who are on death row, serving life-without-parole, or who have a serious recent rules violation.
"I'm going through, individual by individual, people with medical needs that are acute," Newsom said earlier this week. "People where you are fast tracking, expediting parole review and individually reviewing those cases, in order to move people forward."
Critics of the decision are concerned that this mass release of inmates could lead to the spread of Coronavirus outside the prison system, .and are questioning exactly where all of these former inmates will go.
Governor Newsom addressed some of these concerns.
"We are working with probation and parole to expedite the identification of housing," Newsom said. "You don't want to just send people out to park benches or homeless shelters."
Local community activist Jason Shanley who works with the formerly incarcerated acknowledges these challenges.
"It's been a big problem, and COVID has made it a hundred times worse," he said. Shanley has formed the non-profit group known as 'HoMEwork', which helps the formerly incarcerated acquires job skills in the building trade.
"Our society has never really prepared well to be able to re-integrate, to be able to 're-enter' formerly incarcerated people into our society, so now we are scrambling," he added.