Northam’s solution
Those with less than a year left to serve might soon be released early
Governor wants to release inmates who have a year left in their sentence to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 inside prisons.
Gov. Ralph Northam wants to release Virginia prisoners who have a year or less of their sentence to serve and aren’t a threat to public safety.
The Democratic governor said the releases would help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in correctional facilities, where inmates live in close quarters. So far, 25 state prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, according to the Department of Corrections. Five are in hospitals.
Northam said at a press conference in Richmond on Friday he would ask state lawmakers to approve the change when they reconvene on April 22 to take up any of the governor’s bill and budget recommendations and vetoes.
The change would be done through an emergency clause in the budget and would go into effect immediately if the General Assembly approves it.
Typically when an inmate is approaching their release date, they must go through months of re-entry planning. Northam said Friday the re-entry planning would be shortened to a few weeks. Offenders would still have to have a home to go to in order to be released.
Just under 2,000 inmates would be eligible, Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran said. If the change is approved, officials at the Department of Corrections would — at their discretion — release prisoners who don’t pose a threat to society and have demonstrated good behavior, Northam said.
For weeks advocates, inmates and their family members have been raising concerns about the coronavirus making its way into DOC prisons, where many inmates have chronic or preexisting conditions and are more susceptible to contracting the virus.
Inmates at the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Chesapeake described being locked inside their pod day after day as the situation got progressively worrisome.
In an email to The VirginianPilot, a woman at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women described a makeshift prison medical ward being made in one building.
“The officers come and go and there (sic) are no social distancing and we are sleeping on top of each other,” she wrote. “Yes we are scared to death and no one tells us anything. … We are like roaches.”
The move could also save the state money during an economic crisis caused by the coronavirus. In late 2018, the state’s watchdog agency found that the state spent an average of $9,140 for offsite treatment and prescription drugs for an inmate older than 55.
The audit found that 810 inmates with long-term medical conditions accounted for 2% of all inmates, yet their services and medications made up nearly 20% of DOC health care spending.
If released, many of those people would likely go on Medicaid or Medicare, the public health insurance programs for the poor and elderly. But that would still mean less spending from the state, since the federal government pays some of the costs of Medicaid and Medicare.
Advocacy groups have been asking for something like the governor’s proposal for weeks. The other ways to release inmates are through a pardon by the governor or through parole.
But the only offenders eligible for parole are those who were sentenced before 1995 and those considered geriatric — over either age 60 or 65, depending on how long they’ve served.
Northam previously encouraged officials to release nonviolent inmates in local and regional jails to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Last month, the Virginia Parole Board released 96 inmates, up 1,271% from the same month last year.
More prisoners could also be eligible for parole starting July 1, including about 300 inmates who were sentenced between 1995 and 2000 and whose jurors weren’t told parole was abolished. Northam has yet to sign this bill, but has previously said he supports it.
And lawmakers passed a bill saying people who committed crimes as juveniles can be eligible for parole after serving 20 years. Northam signed that bill on Feb. 24.
But legislators stopped short of passing any other measures Democrats proposed to allow more inmates to be eligible for parole — including a bill that brought back parole entirely — choosing instead to study the issue for a year.
Still, some Democrats say Northam’s proposal doesn’t go far enough. Ten lawmakers, including Del. Don Scott, DPortsmouth, sent Northam a letter Friday saying more could be done before lawmakers come back to Richmond and vote on his proposal later this month.
They asked for the parole board to expedite cases and for the governor to grant clemency to inmates who are most at risk of dying from COVID-19 and those who are nearing their release dates.
They said Northam should ask commonwealth’s attorneys to file motions to reconsider bonds for inmates who are awaiting trial in local or regional jails, and issue clear guidance for identifying minors who could be released.
“We must use every tool at our disposal to reduce the inmate population and slow the spread of COVID-19,” the lawmakers wrote.