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April 21, 2020 |
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PBUS members are encouraged to submit information from their state about upcoming meetings, important legislation or other news. Click here to submit.
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New York Post
New York is the epicenter of America’s COVID-19 crisis, but it’s also the focal point of the national debate about reducing jail populations through bail reform. The pandemic has renewed calls to cut incarceration further, which may reinvigorate the bail-reform movement. But it’s important to remember that this public health crisis is temporary, while the risks of bad bail reform will be lasting.
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WLS-TV
Rev. Jesse Jackson and his civil rights organization members are calling for more protection for inmates and staff at jails across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jackson said inmates are trapped in what "amounts to graveyards."
Jackson and Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, senior pastor of the Friendship Baptist Church in Dallas, launched a new nationwide initiative seeking the release of inmates vulnerable to COVID-19.
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NJ.com
For David Placek, the decision to cancel his tenants’ rents was easy.
In late February, the 39-year-old father of three had heard of the devastating impact the coronavirus outbreak was having in Italy, where life came to a standstill. He saw a grim glimpse of the stress and anxiety taking ahold of its residents, worried of catching the virus and the effect on the economy.
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Brennan Center for Justice
New York’s new bail reform law had been in effect for a mere three months when the state legislature amended it in early April. The most significant change is that there are more situations where judges can impose cash bail. They will also have more discretion in setting bail and other conditions of pretrial release. The updates go into effect on July 1.
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News One
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been receiving much praise in recent weeks for how he has handled the COVID-19 pandemic in his home state, which has been (numbers-wise) the epicenter of the crisis in the United States.
Every weekday, Cuomo issues video briefings filled with sobering statistics on new virus cases, deaths and hospitalizations as well as updates on what the state is doing during this crisis.
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AlterNet
Everyone knows how it feels to revisit something you once loved — a TV show such as Entourage, for example — only to find it’s no longer so sparkly. David Soares rose to national criminal justice reform prominence when he was first elected as the district attorney for Albany County, New York. That was in 2004, the year Entourage hit the air.
Back then, it was a different time.
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US Bail Runners is your professional one-stop information network for people who skip out on bail. We are nationwide—all 50 states—and here 24/7 to service your needs as a bail agent. MORE
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KXAN-TV
As some jails work to lower their population and fight the spread of COVID-19 inside, state prison facilities have stopped taking inmates from county jails.
“Correctional facilities across the country find themselves in a similar situation in which they are battling a faceless enemy that does not discriminate between jurisdictions,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Bryan Collier said in a letter to county sheriffs.
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Click2Houston
A federal judge has declined to take any action against Harris County and Gov. Greg Abbott’s jail release decisions. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal ruled that she would not issue a temporary order against Harris County officials or the governor. Inmates’ attorneys in an ongoing bail lawsuit have argued that the governor’s order banning no-cost release of some inmates during the pandemic unconstitutionally discriminates against poor defendants and puts too much gubernatorial power over the judicial branch.
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WTOP-FM
A federal judge weighing a lawsuit against the District over conditions at the DC Jail has been told by independent inspectors that there are substantial challenges at the jail due to the coronavirus and staff shortages.
The Public Defender Service and the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia are suing the D.C. Department of Corrections, alleging that conditions of confinement at the DC Jail as a consequence of measures to tackle COVID-19 are unconstitutional.
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