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1 Lauren-Brooke Eisen, et al., Letter: Further Release of New York State Incarcerated Population at Risk of Coronavirus Infection 1 (2020)

handle is hein.brennan/bcjfrinc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: BRENNAN CENTER I( JS CEY March 30, 2020 The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo Governor of New York State NYS Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224 Re: Further Release of New York State Incarcerated Population at Risk of Coronavirus Infection Dear Governor Cuomo: The novel coronavirus represents an unprecedented crisis for the State of New York. We write today to urge you to use your full authority as Governor to release as many people as possible from incarceration for the duration of the pandemic, focusing on people who are especially vulnerable to infection. Specifically, we recommend you take the following steps, which we explain in depth below: * Use your clemency authority to commute the sentences of vulnerable people to time served, allowing their immediate release, or fashion other appropriate relief; * Expand the State's Merit Time Program to reduce overall incarceration; and, * Work with state prosecutors to keep people who have been convicted of crimes, but not yet sentenced, out of prison for the duration of the crisis. With nearly 60,000 New Yorkers already testing positive for COVID-19, and likely tens of thousands of additional New Yorkers sick from the virus, the scope of this pandemic presents extraordinary challenges to state and local officials, including prison officials, law enforcement, and those responsible for our systems of justice.' We are grateful for your efforts to keep all New Yorkers safe during this pandemic. We also applaud your Friday, March 28 order announcing the release of 1,100 people being held on parole violations from jails and prisons across the state, 600 of whom were held in New York City jails. This is an important first step toward ensuring that some of those who are in our state's jails and prisons can remove themselves from the close quarters and often unhygienic conditions in our correctional facilities. As you are aware, prisons and jails are places where communicable diseases spread rapidly. This is because incarcerated people often live in the same cells, are double-bunked, and have to share toilets, sinks, and soap (if they are lucky enough to ' New York State, County by County Breakdown of Positive Cases, last modified March 28, 2020, ht ps://coronavirus.health.ny .ov/county-county-breakdown-positive-cases; World Health Organization, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 68, https://www.who.int/docs/default- source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200328-sitrep-68-covid- 19.ndf?s fvrsn=384bc74c 2. U~2fl in uc~ u iuc ~. ~ N~w ~oi~ ir ~c 100 ~A Liw II ~FO \ 0271

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