For Immediate Release:
April 17, 2020
Contact:
Matthew Nocella, 202.286.1987 - mnocella@dccouncil.us
D.C.’s commitment to human rights is even more important during coronavirus pandemic
Councilmember Grosso calls for greater efforts to protect health and safety of inmates
Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement from Councilmember David Grosso on the need to center human rights of incarcerated D.C. residents during the District government’s response to the coronavirus public health emergency:
“Yesterday’s commemoration of Emancipation Day reminds all of us in the District of Columbia of our obligation to human rights, racial equity, and freedom. We must remain fully committed to those obligations in our response to the coronavirus crisis. Regardless of the issue we are tackling it is imperative that every day we lift up the voices of our residents that are most often left behind.
“I am extremely concerned with the disparate impact of the coronavirus on our vulnerable populations, particularly residents in the D.C. jail and federal Bureau of Prison facilities. A new independent inspector’s report has raised serious concerns about the conditions that inmates and staff face at the D.C. jail and on Monday a prisoner tragically became the first person at the facility to die from COVID-19. The District of Columbia government must act urgently to prevent that number from skyrocketing. Yet the fractured control over our criminal legal system—between local and federal agencies—inhibits our ability to do so. We cannot let that challenge stop us.
“The Mayor and her executive agencies, the D.C. Council, D.C. Superior Court, Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Parole Board, prosecutors, and public defenders have all taken important steps to mitigate the grave risk that COVID-19 poses to incarcerated individuals and staff working in the criminal legal system. Limiting new entries, expediting releases, and improving conditions are critical to reducing the tremendous harm of this pandemic. However, we must do more to avoid the disastrous results we are seeing in other jurisdictions, where hundreds of prisoners have tested positive for the virus.
“The Council and Mayor must identify more ways to release as many people as possible who do not present a danger to the community, whether those individuals are housed in our jails, St. Elizabeths Hospital, or in federal Bureau of Prisons facilities. However, the status of most of those individuals who remain behind bars is determined by federal agencies. The Superior Court, U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Parole Board, and Bureau of Prisons must increase their efforts to expedite release of those already eligible as well as expand release eligibility. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, in particular, has unnecessarily opposed the release of more people, endangering their wellbeing. No one is sentenced to death in D.C., and no one should die from this virus while incarcerated when they could have been released.
“Some constituents worry that the orders to stay at home and for people to wear masks in many settings could lead to new people entering the criminal legal system. I am thankful for the Mayor’s clear and consistent emphasis not on confrontation, but on education. We have seen the unfortunate results from other jurisdictions when outdated mentalities of policing are applied to this situation—several officers yanking a man off of a bus for not wearing a mask, for example. We must ensure that nothing like that happens here.
“This pandemic is exacerbating already harmful problems in society, many a result of our country’s racist past and present. We must be extra vigilant in counteracting these issues with our emergency response. Combating racism and its legacy is what Emancipation Day is all about. That effort is even more important during this crisis.”
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