Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants prisoners released and is already on the record as saying she wants prisons abolished.
Dozens of people, both workers& the incarcerated, have tested positive for COVID-19 on Rikers.
Many are forcibly cramped into close quarters. They do not have reliable access to soap or sanitizer. This is a humanitarian crisis.
Decarceral action must become an urgent priority. https://t.co/IDbNN3etew
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 25, 2020
She wants ICE detainees released immediately into the interior if they are at risk, and calls detention “trafficking.”
Rep. @AOC confronted this ICE agent at the airport for ‘trafficking children across the country’ during a pandemic pic.twitter.com/oP4TVnhyXq
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 24, 2020
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This is her opportunity to push the progressive value of leaving no one in prison. She doesn’t want people arrested for “low-level offenses.” She also likes to pretend she’s not radical, but rather a centrist:
Thank you @AOC for uplifting critical COVID-19 initiatives impacting people in U.S. prisons & jails:
✅ #FreeOurElders w/ elderly clemencies
✅ Curtail pre-trial detention
✅ Reduce arrestsWe hope @NYGovCuomo & @NYCMayor are listening. #ClemencyNow pic.twitter.com/9uDEN0vTBK
— Release Aging People in Prison Campaign (@RAPPcampaign) March 23, 2020
That way they can go out into our communities and make us sick. Many of these people come in with diseases.
RELEASING PRISONERS
Los Angeles and now New York City are releasing prisoners by the hundreds.
New York City will immediately release 300 inmates from Rikers Island, the city’s main jail complex, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday, Fox News reported.
All of the inmates who will be released have been convicted of misdemeanors or some nonviolent crimes and have less than one year remaining in their sentence, the mayor said.
They screened out violent criminals [but they think narcotics crimes, burglary and theft, are non-violent].
De Blasio is working with state officials and the city’s district attorneys to release about 100 people who are awaiting trial in city jails and around 700 people who were in jail on parole violations, the mayor said.
“We’re making important decisions about our City jails. No one over 70 or with pre-existing conditions should be in our jail system right now and we are working to make that a reality,” he wrote.“There are approximately 300 people with misdemeanors and non-violent felonies that I’m going to move to release immediately. For those that fall outside my jurisdiction, I am alerting the State and District Attorneys to my concerns,” he added.
We’re making hard decisions about our City budget right now. I’ve asked OMB to initiate a PEG program immediately and I want to affirm that today.
The goal will be to cut at least $1.3 billion and the process has already begun at all agencies. COVID-19 response will NOT be cut.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 25, 2020
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