States Release Prisoners, Sex Offenders, Rapists Due to Coronavirus Concerns

Several states around the country have released thousands of prisoners before their sentences have been fully served due to concerns over the coronavirus. These states include California, Washington, New York and Hawaii among others.

In Washington, nearly 1,000 criminals have been released early after Gov. Inslee, D., ordered their release.

The state of Washington also came very close to releasing thousands of additional prisoners including those who have been convicted of assault, rape and murder.

The Blaze reported that “The Green River Killer” was almost released. He “was sentenced to 500 years in prison in 2003 after being convicted of murdering 49 women, many of whom were prostitutes, in the 1980s and 1990s. He later confessed to murdering upward of 80 women.”

After Columbia Legal Services filed a petition in March requesting that any prisoner over 50 be released, the Washington Supreme Court voted 5-4 against releasing these high-level offenders last month.

One Washington inmate released early due to COVID-19 was rearrested last week after allegedly using meth and taking police on a high-speed chase. According to KOMO News, which cited police reports, the man was charged with a felony count of eluding police, misdemeanor charges of obstructing an officer and third-degree driving with a suspended license.

The state of Hawaii has released more than 500 inmates early after a judge ordered their release. One of them was convicted of a sex crime and was serving a six-month sentence after being convicted of sexually assaulting an underage girl, Hawaii News Now reported.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., has received criticism for releasing 1,150 prisoners in his state, including eight sex offenders and three convicted child rapists.

Patrick Phelan, Chief of Police for the city of Greece, New York, voiced his opposition to Gov. Cuomo’s decision. “It doesn’t make any sense. If you could present an argument to me that makes sense, I’m willing to listen. But this doesn’t make any sense. You have a violent criminal who’s done time in state prison who’s been given the chance of parole, and not followed the conditions of their parole. That’s who you’re talking about right now.”

Additionally, California has released 3,500 criminals early due to coronavirus concerns.

These prisoners are allegedly “non-violent.” But as with New York and Hawaii, not every prisoner being released in California is a low-level offender.

According to Fox News, Orange County District Attorney (DA) Todd Spitzer was outraged after the state ordered the release of seven high-level sex offenders from the county’s jails. Court Commissioner Joseph Dane ordered their release in April, despite the men having previously been charged with tampering with their GPS monitoring devices.

“These kinds of high-risk sex offenders are the most dangerous kind of criminal and the most likely to re-offend,” DA Spitzer wrote in a statement. “They are doing everything they can to avoid detection by the parole officers assigned to monitor them so they can potentially commit additional sex offenses. These are not the kind of people who should be getting a break.”

While California is releasing sex-offenders, it is also criminalizing beach attendance. In one viral instance, a man paddle boarding near Malibu Pier was arrested for violating California’s stay-at-home order. In a video posted to Instagram, two patrol boats can be seen descending upon the paddle boarder, forcing him to return to the beach to face arrest.

In another viral video, one mother was threatened with arrest after allowing her child to play at a friend’s house.

In an interview with MSNBC host Joy Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA., expressed her support for early prison release by citing Scripture. “In our caucus, we are very devoted to the Gospel of Matthew,” Speaker Pelosi said. “When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was homeless, you sheltered me. When I was in prison, you visited me,’ and so this for us is part of our value system.”

On The Dan Bongino Show, conservative commentator Dan Bongino pointed out what he saw as hypocrisy in Speaker Pelosi’s remarks. “This is, just to be clear, the late-term abortion-supporting Nancy Pelosi quoting the Gospel of Matthew. You want to talk about hubris,” Bongino said.

Do you find it unjust that while sex offenders are being released, paddle boarders and mothers are being threatened with imprisonment?

You can follow this author on Twitter @MettlerZachary