JUDGES GRANTING BAIL TO REDUCE JAIL NUMBERS
Vulnerable being kept from MCC, MDC
A New York City probation officer has contracted coronavirus, officials said on Saturday.
The officer went home sick on Monday with flu-like symptoms and tested positive on Thursday for COVID-19, officials said.
“The officer went home Monday after experiencing symptoms and has not been at work since,” the Department of Probation said in a statement. “Officers who had worked closely with the probation officer have been notified and asked to monitor for any potential symptoms. They are currently asymptomatic.”
As a precaution to curb coronavirus, criminal justice advocates last week called for an end to all in-person reporting for individuals on probation or parole.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said on Friday that most state parolees will no longer have to report in-person, according to an email obtained by the Daily News.
Some people on probation will also be reporting electronically while others will continue to report in person, sources said.
The department’s non-court offices will be closed; however, probation officers will continue to work in the field.
“Foremost in our thoughts now is the health of our member [who contracted the coronavirus],” said United Probation Officers Association President Dalvanie Powell. “We recognize that there are so many unknowns about this virus, but our workforce is just as committed as our other uniformed services to serve our city in the best way we can during this time.”
It took coronavirus to make a handful of judges realize two troubled federal jails in the city are just downright unhealthy.
New rulings show judges granting bail to inmates accused of carrying a gun, attempting to entice a minor and dealing drugs because of the risk of infection behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.
Judge Alison Nathan reversed her earlier ruling denying bail to Dante Stephens, who was arrested for gun possession while on supervised release for dealing crack and weed for the Big Money Bosses gang.
“The unprecedented and extraordinarily dangerous nature of the
COVID-19 pandemic has become apparent. Although there is not yet a known outbreak among the jail and prison populations, inmates may be at a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 should an outbreak develop,” Nathan wrote Thursday.
Nathan noted that when she denied Stephens bail on March 6 there were 44 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state. By March 18, the number had climbed to 2,382. She ordered Stephens be released from MCC and given 24-hour home confinement.
The Bureau of Prisons has suspended all inmate visits, including ones with attorneys, to prevent the spread of the virus. The measure also strengthened defense attorneys’ arguments for bail.
Lawyer David Touger said he couldn’t properly defend Calvin Hudson on drug and extortion charges because they cannot meet face to face at MCC.
“Because jail is shut down ‘cause of coronavirus I can’t see my client,” Touger said. “Plus, because he’s over 55 and is diabetic, he’s in a high-risk category.”
Judge Colleen McMahon gave Hudson home incarceration and $10,000 bail on Thursday.
The new judicial calculus was evident in a Brooklyn Federal Court bail hearing last week for Rasedur Raihan. The government had sought to lock up Raihan, an accused meth dealer, for failed drug tests and missed treatments.
“If this were a month ago, I think that would be a relatively easy call,” Magistrate Judge James Orenstein said.
The coronavirus forced Orenstein to rule that locking Raihan up at MDC actually presented more danger to the community than if he were free.