Sheriffs, DAs join to oppose release of inmates before SJC

Local law enforcement entities are uniting in opposition to the suggested release of inmates amid the coronavirus crisis, arguing against the proposals by criminal defense groups who claim the virus will rip through crowded detention facilities.

The Committee for Public Counsel Services and the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers are suing for the release of inmates with health issues, those nearing the end of their sentence and inmates eligible for medical parole, among other stipulations.

The sheriffs of all 14 Massachusetts counties countered in a brief, “The actual remedies Petitioners seek are short-sighted and are likely, in the end, to result in substantial harm to the inmates themselves, the already strained social services agencies still operating during this pandemic and the general public.”

The sheriffs will join in a packed telephone conference before the Supreme Judicial Court Tuesday with the criminal defense groups, district attorneys and the Attorney General’s Office, which is suggesting temporary reforms that meet in the middle.

Cape & Islands DA Michael O’Keefe, one of seven DAs opposing the releases, called the idea “a recipe for disaster.”

“This idea of releasing whole swaths of people according to some political agenda is frankly a very irresponsible thing to do,” O’Keefe said Monday. “It’s also an irresponsible thing to do to the defendants, many of whom have no place to go, who have no support services.”

O’Keefe was one of several DAs who have told the Herald their offices are working on a case-by-case basis with the courts and defense attorneys for individual releases.

Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who wrote a brief in support of the criminal defense groups, declined to comment Monday. Rollins and three local DAs signed onto a national letter earlier this month urging the release of inmates in similar circumstances.

Civil groups filed briefs citing widespread poor health conditions and care in detention facilities, noting the first recorded COVID-19 case in state facilities was diagnosed in a man serving a life sentence.

Attorney Ruth Greenberg, writing in support of releases, wrote of the medical parole statute, which could allow the release of severely ill inmates such as James Judge, who has Stage 4 metastatic prostrate cancer and whose mother is willing to let him live with her in his final months.

“I’m hoping the Department of Corrections will now understand that pandemic is always a risk,” Greenberg said, “and that the release of the terminally ill and the incapacitated under the medical parole statute decreases the risk.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2R0GbKq