Justice Action Network Slams "Dangerously Weak” Bureau of Prison COVID-19 Response

WASHINGTON – Today, Justice Action Network Legislative and Policy Director, Inimai Chettiar, issued the following statement in response to the Bureau of Prisons just-released plan to address the COVID-19 crisis spreading in prisons: 

“This half-plan is dangerously weak and woefully inadequate. There are more than 167,000 incarcerated individuals and thousands more corrections officers, healthcare workers and staff under the watch of the Bureau of Prisons – and all of them are at risk unless BOP leadership decides to start taking this crisis more seriously. The BOP’s ‘Phase Five’ plan comes a month late, and does far too little to stop the spread of COVID-19. Our federal prisons are dangerously overcrowded, unsanitary and provide a perfect storm for the unfettered spread of this deadly virus. The time for tinkering around the edges has long past – COVID-19 is already spreading like wildfire throughout our justice system, and every day we delay a serious response will mean more lives lost. We urge in the strongest possible terms that the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons follow the lead of red and blue state governors and state and local elected officials across this country, and take immediate action to transfer individuals who do not pose a public safety threat to home confinement, especially those who are elderly or at high risk of succumbing to the coronavirus. Anything less is unconscionable, will lead to faster spread of this disease, and more deaths in prisons and beyond their walls.”