At least 78,526 people in prison have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least 766 have died. The coronavirus’s rapid spread through crowded detention facilities across the U.S. was predictable, but state and federal officials have been slow to depopulate prisons and jails — a move that would create more space for social distancing and reduce the number of people forced to live in a high-risk environment.
On Thursday, New Jersey’s Legislature finalized the text of a bill that could lead to the release of up to 20% of the state prison population. The bill is aimed at freeing individuals who are near the end of their sentence. Incarcerated people who are within a year of their release date would be eligible to get out up to eight months early by earning “emergency credits” — fourth months credit per month in prison during the pandemic.
Although the proposal leaves behind incarcerated individuals who could safely be released, it is far more ambitious than previous efforts to address COVID-19 in prisons in New Jersey ― or elsewhere in the country. If passed, it would be the first push by a state legislature to depopulate prisons in response to the pandemic.
COVID-19 is currently ravaging prisons and jails throughout the country: The 12 biggest sources of coronavirus cases in the country are in detention facilities, according to The New York Times’ tracker. In a state prison in Ohio, 80% of the incarcerated population tested positive for the virus, and at least 13 of them died.
Unless more states enact measures to significantly reduce prison populations, that toll will likely continue to climb. In Texas, where case numbers spiked this month, 70% of the people incarcerated in a federal prison in Seagoville tested positive for COVID-19.
In New Jersey, lawmakers are faced with a severe crisis. The state has the highest prison death rate from the virus in the country, as well as the worst Black-white racial disparity in prison population.
“We know that there is a population in the state prisons that are going to be released within the next few months anyway,” Raj Mukherji (D), a New Jersey state assemblyman who co-sponsored the bill, said in an interview. “If they’re abou