Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, has signed an executive order to keep certain inmates in jail, and prevent them from being released amid the health scare that America is dealing with. While some Democratic figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez push for the release of prisoners, Abbott is doing the opposite with the community safety in mind. AOC has previously pushed Gov Cuomo to protect elderly prisoners.
Abbott’s executive order “suspends portions of state law, bars personal bonds for anyone convicted or arrested on charges involving violence or the threat of violence. Abbott also outlawed commuting the sentences of inmates convicted of such crimes for good conduct, or releasing them on electronic monitoring,” as stated on Express News.
Abbott was quoted saying, “releasing dangerous criminals from jails into the streets makes the state even less safe and complicates and slows our ability to respond to the disaster…”
It should be noted that a judge can issue a release based on health and medical reasons, as needed.
Judges can still consider individual releases for health or medical reasons.
As of March 20, there were at least 200 inmates set free or transferred to another facility in hopes of reducing the number of inmates and help prevent an outbreak.
Some critics suggest that jail is the perfect place for social distancing if everyone has their own cell and aren’t touching each other.
However, that may not be the case if cells are tiny and have roommates, but many fear that releasing people back into the population puts people in danger, which is considered a valued concern by members of the community who live near a prison/jail.