CA Public Health Experts Urge Gov. Newsom to Release Elderly and Medically Vulnerable Populations from Prisons
March 27, 2020
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor of the State of California
1303 10th Street, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
Sent via email: governor@governor.ca.gov, gavin.newsom@gov.ca.gov
Dear Governor Newsom,
As Californians are following your orders to shelter in place to limit the spread of COVID-19, we, as public health experts and concerned citizens, urge you to act immediately to protect the lives of the people impacted by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), including people in custody, staff at CDCR, and the family members and communities of staff and those who are incarcerated in county jails. With multiple confirmed COVID-19 cases at California’s prisons of staff and incarcerated individuals, unless you take action very soon, it is only a matter of time before California’s jails and prisons become a source of uncontrolled transmission for the COVID-19 virus. We know that the COVID-19 virus transmits rapidly in densely populated spaces, which is why the CDC recommends that people keep six feet away from each other and avoid gatherings of more than ten people, as well as isolating the sick people from the well people. Given that this has proven so difficult to do in California that a shelter-in-place order was necessary, it will be impossible to achieve in the state’s prisons and jails.
California prisons are designed for a maximum capacity of 85,000 people but have been over capacity for decades. With over 122,000 people currently held in CDCR custody, the state’s custodial facilities are not equipped to prevent the spread of a highly contagious respiratory infection like COVID-19; rather, they appear almost perfectly designed to facilitate its unchecked spread. It is not just the people detained in these facilities whose lives are at risk: it is inconceivable that an outbreak in a prison or detention center stays confined to that facility. Staff, correctional officers, judges, and health care professionals will all be exposed to COVID-19 in these facilities and will carry and spread it in the community at large. Many of these facilities are in small communities with few hospital beds and a limited health-care system. As COVID-19 spreads through these small communities, they could be devastated. Facilities combine the worst aspects of cruise ships and nursing homes when dealing with COVID-19.
Under California Government Code section 8550, the Emergency Services Act, you have the power to immediately release people from prisons and thus work to mitigate the spread of this disease. To that end, we ask that you take the following immediate actions:
Accelerate release of all elderly people.
Specifically, release to parole or Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) individuals 60 and older who have five years or less on their sentence, and all those over 60 who have been determined to be low risk by any CDCR internal evaluation. While the COVID-19 virus infects people of all ages, the World Health Organization (WHO) is clear that older people are at a higher risk of getting severe COVID-19 disease and dying. In fact, the risk of severe disease gradually increases with age starting from around 40 years. Also, older people who are released from prison pose little risk to public safety.
Accelerate release for the medically vulnerable population.
This includes persons suffering from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer. Specifically, release to parole/PRCS these individuals who have five years or less on their sentence and all those in this cohort who have been determined to be low risk by any CDCR internal evaluation.
Take the following density reduction measures.
Accelerate release to parole/PRCS of those already found suitable for parole by the Board of Parole Hearings, and release to parole/PRCS all individuals deemed low risk by CDCR’s internal evaluation who have 2 years or less remaining on their sentence.
Finally, we urge you to use your authority and direct the Attorney General to use his constitutional authority to supervise sheriffs and district attorneys across the state to drastically reduce the jail populations. Many who are admitted to jail only stay for a short period of time, and more people churn through jails in a day than are admitted or released from state and federal prisons in 2 weeks. We urge you to call for the following immediate action:
- Release of anyone who is held pretrial and who does not pose an unreasonable safety risk to a specific person or persons;
- Release of all people serving a non-violent misdemeanor sentence who are within six months of their release date;
- Release of all people held locally on probation and parole technical violation detainers or sentences; and
- Increase the use of citations in place of arrests and limit custodial arrest only to those few accused of crimes that pose a serious safety risk to a specific person or persons.
Respectfully,
*Affiliations for identification purposes only
Etsemaye Agonafer, MD, MPH, MS
Internal Medicine Physician
University of California, Los Angeles
Anu Agrawal, MD
Associate Professor, Pediatrics
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Scott A. Allen, MD, FACP
Professor Emeritus
University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine
Jason R. Andrews, MD
Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine
Stanford University, School of Medicine
Judith D. Auerbach, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Gladstone Center for AIDS Research
University of California, San Francisco
Kathryn M. Barker, ScD, MPH
Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Infectious Diseases & Global Public Health
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Kimberly Brouwer, PhD
Associate Professor, Division of Global Public Health
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Carole Browner, MPH, PhD
Distinguished Research Professor
University of California, Los Angeles, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
Carol Camlin, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies
University of California, San Francisco
Alexander Capron, LLB, MA
Professor of Medicine and Law
University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine
Javier A. Cepeda, MPH, PhD
Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases & Global Public Health
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Kristen R. Choi, PhD, MS, RN
Assistant Professor
University of California, Los Angeles, School of Nursing
Kathleen Chung, MD
Primary Care Physician
San Francisco Department of Public Health
Laura Ferguson, PhD, SM, MA
Director, Program on Global Health & Human Rights
Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine
University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine
Angela Garcia, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Stanford University
Sofia Gruskin, JD, MIA
Professor of Preventive Medicine
Director, Institute on Inequalities in Global Health
University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine
MarySue V. Heilemann, PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Professor
University of California, Los Angeles, School of Nursing
Edward B. Keehn, PhD, PsyD
Psychologist, Clinical Supervisor
Union of Pan Asian Communities
Emily Nagisa Keehn, JD
Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs
University of San Diego, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies
Lynne Lazarus, MD
Associate Medical Director, University Health Services
University of California, Berkeley
Robert MacCoun, PhD, MA
Professor and Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stanford University, School of Law
Kimford J. Medor, MD
Professor of Neurology and Neurosciences
Stanford University, School of Medicine
Michelle Mello, PhD, JD
Professor of Medicine and Professor of Law
Stanford University, School of Medicine and School of Law
Anne Montgomery, MD
Chief Resident, Department of Internal Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Tamandra Morgan, MD, ScM
Resident, OB/GYN&RS Residency Program
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Juliana Morris, MD, EdM
Resident, Family Community Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Arnab Mukherjea, DrPH, MPH
Assistant Professor of Health Sciences (Public & Community Health)
Adjunct Professor (Pre-professional Health Academic Program)
California State University, East Bay, Department of Health Sciences
Parveen K. Parmar, MD
Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine
Carol Pavlish, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor Emerita
University of California, Los Angeles, School of Nursing
Amber Akemi Piatt, MPH
Health Instead of Punishment Program Director
Human Impact Partners
Eva Raphael, MD, MPH
Clinical Fellow
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Douglas Richman, MD
Director, Center for AIDS Research
Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Medicine (Active Emeritus)
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Lee Riley, MD
Professor and Chair, Division of Infectious Disease and Vaccinology
University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health
Lisa Goldman Rosas, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Stanford University, School of Medicine
Maya Rossin-Slater, PhD
Assistant Professor
Stanford University, School of Medicine
Steffanie Strathdee, PhD
Associate Dean, Global Health
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Nicole Tantoco, MD, MPH
Resident Physician
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Paula Tavrow, PhD
Associate Adjunct Professor
University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health
Katharine S. Walter, PhD, MS
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Infectious Diseases
Stanford University, School of Medicine
CC:
Secretary Mark Ghaly, MD, MPH, California Health and Human Services Agency
Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH, FAAP, California Surgeon General
Secretary Ralph Diaz, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Diana Toche, DDS, Undersecretary, Health Care Services, CDCR
Joseph Bick, MD, Director, Division of Correctional Health Care Services, CDCR
Jennifer Shaffer, Executive Officer, Board of Parole Hearings
J. Clark Kelso, Receiver
Daniel Seeman, Deputy Cabinet Secretary
Kelli Evans, Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary
