Taking Pandemic Credit Bill Closer to Finish Line: Legislature Votes Yes to Amendments on Releasing People Nearing End of Prison Sentences:

Pending a final vote in the Legislature, Gov. Murphy will have 45 days to sign S2519/A4235 from the July 30 vote

By Evelyn J. Mendez

TRENTON – Today, the process of passing the bill to create a public health emergency credit that releases people who are approaching the end of their sentences during the Covid-19 pandemic took another step forward today. Both the full New Jersey Senate and Assembly approved floor amendments that gained necessary support for the measure while preserving all of the essential elements promoted by advocates. The next step moving forward is a floor vote to pass the bill as amended, which Governor Murphy would have 45 days from today to sign into law.

According to advocates, passing the S2519/A4235 bill would help those who are incarcerated preserve their natural human rights to stay safe from the pandemic and help prevent the spread of Covid-19 overall. Prison is meant to deprive criminals of their freedom as a way of making them pay a debt to society for their crimes but, keeping prisons crowded does not allow them to social distance themselves from others during such risky and unfortunate times.

While prisons are overcrowded and filled with many who are entering and exiting the prisons already, more people are becoming infected because they are not able to follow the protocol that the CDC has placed for everyone to follow for Covid-19. If Governor Murphy does not pass the bill, the lives of those with pre-existing health conditions in prisons will continue to be at risk as well.

Rory Price died of Covid-19 just weeks before to his release date recently and his mother shared her testimonial regarding his death. Ms. Bernice Ferguson stated, “Making this bill law will save the lives of so many, and it will save other families from living through the nightmare I’ve experienced after losing Rory, my firstborn child, three weeks before he was supposed to come home. To protect all of the people in New Jersey, and to do justice, I urge Governor Murphy to sign this bill as quickly as possible, and I thank the lawmakers who honored his memory with this vote today…”

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The New Jersey Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, and Salvation and Social Justice strongly advocated for the passage of S2519/A4235. Senator Nellie Pou, Senator Sandra Cunningham, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, and Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson were introduced in the Assembly. The policy aims to save lives twofold: by allowing people to social distance themselves outside of prisons, and by fostering greater opportunity for social distancing within prison, helping staff, civil servants, and their families, in addition to those serving sentences.

“We’re closer to passing legislation that can save my brother’s life, and it can save the lives of countless others – both people who are incarcerated, and people who are not,” said Mr. Scott Clements, whose brother, to be released in early 2021, suffers from health conditions. “I hope Governor Murphy will sign this bill into law with a sense of urgency, recognizing that each day that goes by puts even more lives at risk.” Those who are losing their family members incarcerated due to Covid-19 are hurting and feel strongly about passing the bill. Surpassing the limit of individuals who are meant to be in prisons during the pandemic places more individuals at risk and potentially in more situations similar to Mr. Scott Clements brother and Rory Price.

ACLU-NJ Policy Director Sarah Fajardo stated, “Approving these amendments and sending this bill to a full floor vote is a key moment in our fight against this deadly virus and our fight for racial justice.” People in New Jersey prisons have died from Covid-19 at a higher rate than any other prison system in the United States. That is a concerning status that New Jersey has held since the tracking of coronavirus in prisons began.

According to the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and The New Sentencing project, “Black youth in New Jersey are over 30 times more likely to be detained or committed than white youth. This gives New Jersey the highest Black/white youth incarceration disparity rate in the nation, a rate twice that of the next state, Wisconsin.” There are immeasurable amounts of individuals of African American descent being placed into prisons that are not in the best conditions. During the pandemic more prisoners are likely to become infected with the virus as more people enter the prisons and can’t practice social distancing.

If the bill passes, the credits will reduce sentences by four months for each month of the declared state of emergency: a maximum sentence reduction of eight months. The legislation will apply to adults and juveniles with under a year of a sentence left to serve, except for those convicted of sex crimes and receiving special treatment for repetitive behavior.

The credits serve a two purposes: allowing people to distance themselves socially at home, where social distancing is possible, and lowering the prison population to allow for more social distance among those who are still there. The credits also recognize that conditions of confinement during public health emergencies create significantly more hardship than typical incarceration, with increased isolation, fear, risk of death, and helplessness.

“With this step, the Legislature takes an important action not just in the name of public health, but also in the name of racial justice, and we urge the Legislature to pass the final version and Governor Murphy to make it law,” said the Reverend Dr. Charles Franklin Boyer, Founding Director of Salvation and Social Justice and pastor of Bethel AME Church in Woodbury. “New Jersey has the highest Covid-19 death rates in its prisons, as well as the highest rate of racial disparities among its prison population. Passing and signing this bill would push back against a deadly virus that has disproportionately affected Black and brown New Jerseyans. We all stand to benefit from the bill’s lifesaving protections and for advancing racial justice.”

New Jersey is very much behind compared to many other states in regard to reducing the prison population, and it has the worst racial disparities in its prison population in the US. If Governor Murphy signs the bill, those who are nearing their sentences will be safer and those who unfortunately still have more time, will be able to practice social distancing correctly. This bill would also improve the issue of mass incarceration of people of color.