Maryland must release certain inmates or face a worsened viral outbreak
The global COVID-19 pandemic brings with it a moral imperative to pay special attention to incarcerated persons. Those who are incarcerated and detained are at a higher risk of death, unable to escape the virus incubator in which they are housed. We join the National Council of Churches and many medical experts and legal professionals to plead with the city of Baltimore and state of Maryland: Immediately release as many prisoners as possible from both prison and jail, and take other steps to protect the health and safety of those who are incarcerated (“Baltimore State’s Attorney Mosby to stop prosecuting drug possession, prostitution, other crimes amid coronavirus,” March 18).
While Baltimore Quakers are among those opposed to the inequities of mass incarceration in the U.S., COVID-19 threatens to make imprisonment a death sentence. Compassion and justice compel the release of those who are medically vulnerable, elderly and in jail for lack of means to post bail. We urge Maryland and Baltimore officials to implement these common-sense measures right now.
First, release elderly and medically vulnerable people so they can go home. Early release anyone who is within 18 months of release date. Second, for local jails, release all people being held pretrial for failure to post bail and all those who do not pose an unreasonable safety risk to a specific person or persons. Meanwhile, for those still incarcerated, allow access to family and lawyers through alternative means of physical contact by providing free and unlimited phone access, video conferencing, email and postal mail. And, finally, provide adequate health care to those who are incarcerated or detained, and to staff, including testing and treating for COVID-19 without requiring any co-pay.
We also urge that all those who have been placed in immigration detention solely for immigration violations be released immediately, and arrests for immigration violations should also be suspended at once. Gov. Larry Hogan has taken some important and early steps to reduce the spread of the pandemic. We urge him and Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young to show the leadership to take these additional steps to save lives. It is morally imperative.
Jean Athey, Barbara Bezdek, Sarah Bur, Jody Hopkins, Louise Hopkins, Kathryn Munnell, and Peter Phalen, Baltimore
The writers are members of the peace and social justice committee of Homewood Friends Meeting (Quakers).