Post-pandemic stay-at-home approach to prison inmates
Apparently, it takes a pandemic to push forward certain corrections reforms in Maryland. Years of activism, impassioned pleas, research reports and editorials outlining inequities and atrocities within the system were neither as effective nor as efficient in securing the swift release of hundreds of low-level offenders, including 200 children, as COVID-19.
Since the new coronavirus swept into Maryland in force in March, the state has released more than 2,000 inmates, some awaiting trial, who were judged able to be safely monitored in the community or who were nearing the end of their sentences. And more are expected to be freed in the future, now that Maryland’s chief judge, Mary Ellen Barbera, has issued orders encouraging the release of nonviolent juveniles and adults amid the pandemic, and Gov. Larry Hogan has signed an executive order to speed up the process for those eligible for home detention or for release within the next four months. The governor also directed the Maryland Parole Commission to accelerate its consideration of older inmates serving sentences for nonviolent crimes and who are at risk for deadly complications from the disease. It was a stark turnaround from his stance just last month, when he responded to calls for low-risk prisoner release by saying “they’re safer where they are.”
So, what brought on the change of heart? The detail that inmate living conditions — high turnover, cramped quarters, shared sinks and toilets — turn a prison sentence into potential death sentence? Or the mounting calls to release low-risk prisoners from defense attorneys, the ACLU, lawmakers and Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby? Maybe it was all that coupled with the long-understood knowledge that our justice system disproportionately targets African American men, offers little in the way of actual reform, and is largely made up of underprivileged people dealing with mental health and addiction issues.
Whatever it was, we’re pleased there’s been some recognition of the reality that prison is not the only, or even the best, corrections scenario for many Marylanders caught up in the system. We also realize this is not the most pressing issue for many readers, especially now, when we’re all focused on our own uncertain health and comfort.
But the fact is that much of this population wound up where they are because of circumstance — bad life experiences and, yes, choices, paired with a lack of opportunity, education and guidance. Helping them helps the rest of us, who, according to polls, consider crime a number one concern in the state. Prison reform, including reduced incarceration, lowers recidivism and saves taxpayers money, and who doesn’t want that?
Governor Hogan has made a concerted effort to reduce the state’s prison population even before coronavirus, which has thus far claimed the lives of two Maryland prisoners. But he should have done more before now to empty prisons, jails and detention centers of those who didn’t absolutely have to be there. The past is gone, however.
What concerns us now is whether this will be the model going forward, when coronavirus is no longer an immediate concern. Are these same strategies going to stick around? We sure hope so, because the issues with mass incarceration and inequality in the prison system are not going to go away when the virus does. The state should adopt common-sense sentencing guidelines permanently.
Incarceration should always be a last resort as a crime deterrent and punishment. Instead, state efforts should be focused on crime prevention, along with improving probation services, community-based monitoring options and support systems to give people a fighting chance to succeed after they’ve paid their so-called debts to society. Put drug treatment and mental health counseling before tough on crime lock them up solutions. Society will benefit as a whole if we do.
What do you say, governor? The stay-at-home approach could work in this area post-pandemic too.