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People’s Organization for Progress Box 22505 Newark N. J.? 07101 (973) 801-0001April 8, 2020Phil Murphy, Governor of the State of New JerseyStatehouseTrenton, New Jersey 08618Re: The Corona Virus in the State PrisonsCall for Release of PrisonersTo The Honorable Phil Murphy, Governor of the State of New Jersey,We are writing to follow-up our letter of March 17, 2020 (Attachment 2), in which we urged state government leaders to take action to prevent the spread and limit the impact of the COVID-19 (corona) virus in New Jersey jails and prisons. In this letter we join with numerous colleagues in New Jersey and around the country to urge you to prioritize, authorize and direct the release of medically vulnerable prisoners and prisoners whose release will not jeopardize public safety. Despite what we all have all learned since our March 17 letter, despite the guidance available from the CDC and myriad professional and advocacy sources, and despite the steps taken by the NJ Supreme Court and the Department of Corrections, we continue to receive information directly from NJ prisoners that basic measures for the prevention, identification, control and treatment of COVID-19 in our state prisons are still dangerously lacking, and that the spread of the virus in the prisons, which predictably will spread to the surrounding communities, has already begun to explode.Moreover, in the face of inconsistent and changing practices in a Department t known for resisting transparency and accountability, prisoners are not being informed of the status of the virus in their institutions or plans to control its impact and spread. This has created much more (potentially destabilizing) distress than would be occasioned by providing prisoners and the public with timely credible information. We are not aware of all that is being done by state authorities, but we are being warned and we are certain that the present status, which includes lockdowns in a prison system relying on double celling, cessation of prisoner programs and services, a lack of adequate medical care, failure to identify illness or provide prisoners with protective materials, and structural constraints on social distancing and isolation, are recipes for disaster.Therefore we are convinced that the most urgent priority is to quickly release as many people from correctional confinement as possible, starting with the most vulnerable - the elderly and the ill. This will require, of course, the coordinated efforts and authority of the three branches of state government, using all of their available powers and creating new emergency mechanisms to facilitate the reduction of the state prison population. Fortunately, we do not need to invent the steps that government should take, since detailed recommendations are available to you from federal sources, other state governments, and professional and advocacy organizations and coalitions. As you will see, from the examples of prisoner testimonies, enclosed, the broad measures required include: the release of vulnerable populations, establishing, monitoring and enforcing consistent rules, preparing for testing, quarantine and hospitalization of symptomatic prisoners, directing additional health resources to the prisons, protecting family and legal communications, and providing timely credible information to staff, prisoners and their families. Specifically, we urge you take immediate steps to reduce the prison population, as follows:Directly:Prioritize the groups of vulnerable prisoners and prisoners not likely to present an unreasonable risk of danger to the public, such as those listed in Par. 2a; Direct the Department of Health to audit the health status of the people living and working in the state prisons, in light of reports that prisoners with COVID-19 symptoms are not being tested, tracked or isolated, and symptomatic officers are still working in the prisons.Direct the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services to provide health services and social work assistance to the Department of Corrections (DOC) in identifying and preparing prioritized prisoners for reentry, and organizing appropriate quarantine and treatment placements within the DOC and in other health care facilities for prisoners ill with COVID-19; Exercise your constitutional power to grant executive clemency and your emergency powers to authorize the release of those prisoners identified in Par.1a, who can be released to family or to an appropriate alternative medical or other suitable placement, waiving prior action of the Parole Board;Direct the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission to propose modifications to sentencing guidelines, which would permit more flexible relief from excessive sentencing, under emergency conditions;Promptly review and enact emergency legislation submitted by the Legislature;Most critically, provide notice to state authorities, people in custody and the public, a State action plan for addressing the COVID-19 crisis in the state’s jails and prisons.Direct the DOC to:proceed expeditiously to prepare for the prompt release of prisoners identified in Par. 1c by identifying the following groups of prisoners and determining where these prisoners may be safely placed in the community:Prisoners considered elderly (55 years of age or older);Prisoners chronically and severely disabled, such as those with asthma, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, HIV and other diseases or disabilities which make them vulnerable to COVID-199 infection;Prisoners with severe mental illness, who are eligible for civil commitment and should be committed to a psychiatric hospital;Pregnant prisoners;Prisoners scheduled for release within the next 6 months;Prisoners eligible for medical parole under NJSA 30:4-123.51c(a)(2) and NJAC 10A:71-3.53;Prisoners eligible for medical release under R3:21-10(b)(2);Prisoners who have served their mandatory minimum terms and have had no * (asterisk) institutional offenses involving violence in 5 years;Prisoners who have served 20 or more years, and have had no * institutional offenses in 10 years;Release prisoners identified in Par. 1c;Prepare for the safe custody and treatment of state prisoners remaining confined, by preparing quarantine units in the prisons and increasing access to hospitalization for ill prisoners; Direct the Administrators of the state prisons to review the illustrative problems identified by prisoners in the testimonies and summaries below;Provide state prisoners with timely and updated notice of the status of the virus in the state’s prisons and the Department’s plan for dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.We very much appreciate the efforts your administration has been making to protect the people of New Jersey during this most difficult and unprecedented time. However, we are concerned that in the face of such widespread illness and death in the community, the people confined in our prisons may not receive necessary attention. But without prompt action in the prisons, we face a humanitarian crisis that will impact families and communities throughout the state, and make it impossible to protect the prisoners remaining in state custody or fulfill state responsibilities to prison workers.We rely on you.Respectfully,Bonnie Kerness, Director, Prison Watch Program American Friends Service CommitteeJean Ross, Esq., Member People’s Organization for Progresscc. Gurbir Grewal, Attorney General; Marcus Hicks, Commissioner, DOC; Judith Persicilli, Commissioner, DOH; Samuel Plumeri Jr, Chair NJS Parole Board; Steven Tallard, Executive Director, NJS Parole Board; Joseph Krakora, Public Defender; Carl Herman, Director, Division of Mental Health and Guardianship Advocacy; Dan Dibenedetti, Corrections Ombudsman, Lawrence Hamm, Chair, People’s Organization for ProgressATTACHMENTS:Recent testimonies (3/25 – 4/8) from people confined in New Jersey state prisonsRemedies requested in the March 17 letter to Governor MurphyDISTRIBUTION:Organizations:ACLU-NJ, Alexander ShalomAlliance of Families for Justice, Soffiyah ElijahAll of Us or NoneAnti-Poverty Network, Renee Koubiadis, Cuqui RiveraCampaign to End the New Jim Crow, Greater TrentonCherry Hill Women’s Center, Roxanne SutockyCoalition for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (CAIC)The Coalition for Peace ActionDeportation, Immigration, Response, Seth Kaper-DaleFaith in New JerseyLatino Action Network, Cuqui RiveraNAACP, Jonette Smart, Richard T. Smith, Herbert Glenn, Richard NAMI-NJ, Phil LubitzNASW-NJ, Jeff Feldman, Jennifer ThompsonNJ Institute for Social Justice, Ryan Haygood, Ron Pierce, Justice RountreeNJ State Nurses AssociationNJ Nurses Union, Maria Rafinski NJPBA Local 105NJPIRGPax ChristiThe Reformed Church of Highland Park, Seth Kaper-DaleReal Cost of Prisons Project, Lois AhrensRustin Center, PrincetonSalvation and Social Justice, Rev. Charles BoyerSolidarity22, Crystal MorT'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, Eliana ChavkinUnitarian Universalist Faith Action, Rob, Gregson, Susan McDonaldWomen Who Never Give Up, Gale MuhammadWork Environmental Council, Debra Coyle McFadden Working Families, Imani OakleyIndividuals: (Organizations and locations for identification only)Bruce Afran, Esq.Angela A. Allen-Bell Director of Louis A. Berry Institute for Civil Rights and Justice, and B. K. Agnihotri Endowed Professor at Southern University Law Center??Munirah BowmaniAudrey Bomse, Esq., National Lawyer’s Guild Mass Incarceration CommitteeMary K. Brown, Resident, Princeton, NJSerges Demefack, Project Coordinator, End Detention and Deportation, Immigrant Rights Programs (AFSC) Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, PhD.Carol Gay, NJ State Industrial Union Council Tina Maschi Daniel McCarey, Esq.Aisha Mohammed, Aging PeopleConnie Palmer, Imagine, A Center for Coping with LossDina Paulson, LALDEFRichard Robinson, Chair, Criminal Justice Executive Committee, NJ NAACP State Conference Joanna Smart, NAACPStreet CounselLidia ThorntonHinda Winawer, Princeton Family InstituteBennett Zurofsky, Esq. ................
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