Mayor Bill de Blasio says he will release 300 criminals from Rikers Island

Three HUNDRED inmates from Rikers Island who have less than a year left of their sentence will be released to stop coronavirus spread

  • De Blasio will let 300 people who have misdemeanor and non-violent felony convictions out of Rikers Island immediately
  • He said he would not allow some people who had sexual assault convictions of domestic battery convictions out 
  • He said he was trying to strike a balance between a ‘humanitarian need’ and ‘public safety concerns’ 
  • New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that he would release up to 1,000 ‘low risk’ criminals 
  • Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

Mayor Bill de Blasio says he will release 300 criminals from Rikers Island to stop them from contracting coronavirus. 

The criminals will be those who have committed misdemeanors or non-violent felonies and who have less than a year on their sentence. 

De Blasio made the announcement on Tuesday as he gave an update on the coronavirus outbreak in New York City. 

In the city, 131 people have died and there are nearly 15,000 cases of it. 

De Blasio’s decision to release the criminals is likely to draw criticism from his political enemies and the NYPD, many of whom say he is too lenient on criminals. 

Three hundred inmates from Rikers Island will be released to stop them from contracting coronavirus 

He said he had looked at various cases decided not to allow certain criminals with records of sexual assault of physical violence out of of jail, but that the others will be freed immediately. 

‘The reality is of the over 5,000 people in the corrections system, different inmates are in different statuses. 

‘The group that I have direct ability to act on are those who are serving a city sentence – they’ve gone to trial been found guilty and the sentence is under one year that they would serve on Rikers. 

‘Convicted of offenses such as misdemeanors and non-violent felonies. When we looked at that category – there’s over 500 in that category.

‘There’s a substantial group because of very specific legal issues, I’m not able to immediately release.

‘There are some who have domestic violence charges or sexual violence charges who I have determined we are not prepared to release at this point.

‘The remainder have less than a year left on their sentence, some have many months, some have only a few months, some have only weeks – I’m going to treat this across the board – approximately 300 inmates will be released,’ he said. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio , pictured at a warehouse with one of the new ventilators the government has sent to help the state of NY battle coronavirus, said he had weighed up the humanitarian need to get as many inmates out as possible with the public safety concerns that come with freeing them

Mayor Bill de Blasio , pictured at a warehouse with one of the new ventilators the government has sent to help the state of NY battle coronavirus, said he had weighed up the humanitarian need to get as many inmates out as possible with the public safety concerns that come with freeing them 

De Blasio said he was trying to strike a ‘humanitarian balance between trying to get everyone we need that we can physically out of her jail system out and be mindful that there are real public safety concerns here.’

‘We’re pained by both sides of the equation. That is a situation where I know broadly what I’d like to see happen… I also know there’s a lot of extenuating circumstances,’ he said. 

Other cities and states are taking similar steps. 

New Jersey’s Gov. Phil Murphy said he too was going to release ‘low risk’ inmates. 

They will be released by Thursday.  

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