A federal judge is pushing Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials to release more inmates to reduce the spread of the coronavirus inside California's prisons.
The pressure mounts as incarcerated people from San Quentin State Prison continue to be hospitalized and die due to COVID-19 complications.
During an emergency hearing Monday, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar expressed appreciation to Newsom for the expedited releases he has granted, acknowledging that they are not “politically popular.” However, Tigar stressed that incarcerated people are still dying and there is a looming threat of more outbreaks across the state.
“I do not expect, ever, to hear any public health guidance to the contrary of the point that it is impossible to adequately respond to this disease without inmate release,” he said.
The outbreak at San Quentin is the largest in the state prison system. About 1,400 people incarcerated there have tested positive, and 62 are being treated at outside hospitals across the Bay Area. Several inmates have died from complications.
There are currently about 113,000 people in prisons across the state. Officials have released 3,500 people since March through an expedited parole process.
During his press conference Monday, Newsom said that addressing the outbreak at San Quentin is one of his top priorities.
“I'm going through individual-by-individual people with medical needs that are acute,” he said. “We are fast-tracking, expediting parole review and individually reviewing those cases in order to move people forward”
The governor also acknowledged that the transfer of 121 people from the California Institution for Men in Chino to San Quentin — widely believed to have caused the outbreak — was a mistake.
