April 7, 2020: Advocates Call for Clemency as COVID-19 Numbers in State Prisons Hit Record Highs • COVID-19 Briefing

March 7, 2020: New York, New York

Today, the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, Parole Preparation
Project, #HALTsolitary Campaign, VOCAL-NY, and Worth Rises released the following statement after new data reveals COVID-19 cases in New York state prisons have reached record highs:

“New York’s 52 state prisons are increasingly infected with COVID-19. New data published today by WETM-18 reveals that 55 incarcerated people and 319 staff in the state prison system have tested positive for the virus. Despite this continued crisis, Governor Cuomo told the Albany press corps at his daily news briefing today that there is ‘nothing new’ regarding the state’s efforts to grant clemencies but they’re ‘looking at that continually.’

The Governor’s lack of action to release people from his prison system who are vulnerable to this virus is truly distributing. A record number of people are sick, lives have already been lost, and a ticking time bomb looms over New York State. The Governor must act now by granting clemency to older people and others in prison to whom this virus presents a life and death risk.”