Advocates push lawmakers to pass bill that would release some inmates as coronavirus continues to impact prisons

As New Jersey continues to flatten the curve of coronavirus cases statewide, advocates and attorneys pleaded with lawmakers Wednesday to do something to ensure the safety of the thousands of men and women who are incarcerated in the state’s prison system, which has the highest death rate in the nation during the pandemic.

“If there is anything I can stress, it is the urgency to do something,” said Rev. Dr. Charles Boyer, the executive director of Salvation and Social Justice. … “Time is not on our side to figure it all out.”

In a joint hearing held by the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee, lawmakers heard testimony from advocates, and family members of people incarcerated in support of a bill that would expedite release for inmates who are due to complete their sentences within a year.

It is the first piece of legislation aimed at limiting the state’s prison population during the public health crisis in which more than 2,000 inmates have become infected with COVID-19, including 46 who have died, according to the Department of Corrections.

The bill, S2519, which was introduced by Sen. Nellie Pou, D-Passaic, and Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, with co-sponsor Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, would reduce sentences for inmates by six months for each month of the declared state of emergency, with a maximum sentence reduction of one year.

If enacted, it could release a few thousand adult and juvenile inmates who are near the end of their sentences instantaneously, according to the ACLU.

The corresponding bill in the Assembly, A4235, sponsored by Assemblyman Raj Mukherjee, D-Hudson, and Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, D-Hudson, prompted the joint hearing Wednesday.

Advocates and attorneys have constantly denounced the DOC and Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration for their slow response to the virus behind bars and their lack of urgency in releasing inmates under the governor’s executive order enacted in mid-April. The state Supreme Court ordered the administration last week to give prisoners and their attorneys information on why a request for release was denied.

Under the order, 3,000 inmates are eligible to be released yet only 337 inmates had been medically furloughed or paroled as of the end of last month, according to the Attorney’s General office. More than 40 inmates have died from the virus since Murphy’s executive order.

An NJ Advance Media investigation for NJ.com found troublesome conditions described by inmates, officers and civilian staff within the state’s prison system that the state was not proactive in addressing

“It was the lack of urgency that committed nearly 50 people to death,” Boyer testified Wednesday.

Jeanne LoCicero, the legal director of the New Jersey chapter of the ACLU, said inmates have been subjected to “inhumane, unhealthy and dangerous conditions” during the pandemic.

She said the release of inmates, either through the newly introduced bill or Murphy’s executive order, is paramount because the as virus continues to spread through the prison’s system it will have an impact on the state as a whole.

“Releasing people not only benefits the individual, but the entire state,” she said, adding people come-and-go from prisons daily.

LoCicero commended the DOC for completing universal testing last month, but said mass testing occurred “very late in the game,.”

“The failed response in our prison system has been disastrous,” she said. … “The public deserves to know why our prisoners were deprived of these public health tools.”

Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips, R-Bergen, asked Locicero how COVID-19 was currently impacting prisons now that the spread of the virus has slowed down statewide, but Locicero referred him to the DOC for that information.

However, the state did not have a DOC official at the hearing to testify, though DOC Commissioner Marcus Hicks did provide written testimony to the committees, Mukherji said.

DePhillips called the DOC’s absence “regrettable,” while Mukherji said, “I don’t mean to throw shade, but it would be nice if they were here.”

DOC Commissioner Marcus Hicks has only publicly spoken once during the pandemic.

Gov. Murphy said at his press conference Wednesday that he could not speak to why Hicks was not present at the joint committee hearing. The DOC declined to comment on why Hicks did not attend.

The testimony also included family members of loved ones who have been affected by the coronavirus while incarcerated. Bernice Ferguson described how it felt to learn how her son Rory Price, 39, died with the virus the same month he was set to be released from a halfway house.

Fighting through tears, Ferguson told lawmakers how her family was not given any information. The only correspondence they received from the DOC was that Price was taken to the hospital and then days later that he died, she said.

“Did he ask for help?,” she wondered. “Did anyone listen to him when he said he was sick?”

After her testimony, Mukherji and Assemblyman Adam Taliaferro, D-Gloucester, told Ferguson they planned to go to the DOC to try and get more answers regarding her son’s death.

“I leave here today with more questions than answers,” Mukherji said about the state’s response to the pandemic.

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Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

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