Washington, Mar 25: New York City will immediately release about 300 inmates who have been sentenced to serve less than one year for non-violent offenses in order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the prison system, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
De Blasio said an initial group of inmates considered for an early release included more than 500 individuals. However, because there were people with legal issues and charges of domestic violence and sexual offenses, it was decided to conduct a more thorough examination before freeing all of them.
“The remainder are individuals who have been convicted of misdemeanors and non-violent felonies, have less than a year left on their sentence,” de Blasio said on Tuesday. “Some have many months, some have only a few months, some have only weeks. But I’m going to treat this category across the board as approximately 300 inmates. And we will move to release those 300 inmates immediately.”
De Blasio said that about 700 other inmates, who have been imprisoned on parole violations, will also be considered for an early release on a case-by-case basis.
According to de Blasio, more than 5,000 people are currently serving sentences in New York City’s prison system. (AGENCIES)
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