Trump delivers Florida disaster declaration as jails targeted as COVID-19 incubators
Prisons can be locked down relatively easily, but inmates are communally penned up for days, weeks and months and then released into the general public from the state’s 67 county and dozens of metro city jails, warns the REFORM Alliance.
The coalition, which includes the American Conservative Union, Americans for Prosperity, Faith and Freedom Coalition, Justice Action Network, National Urban League, R Street Institute and Right on Crime, issued a call to Florida officials Monday to adopt a five-point plan to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus within Florida’s jails and prisons under the acronym “SAFER”:
• Suspend jail for technical violations; suspend probation office visits and payment of fines;
• Adopt smart alternatives to incarceration and contact visitation;
• Free medical visits and treatment, hand sanitizer, soap and protective gear;
• Extra precautions for guards and staff;
• Release elderly and vulnerable to home confinement.
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