As public health experts stressed the deadliness and contagiousness of the new coronavirus behind the global pandemic, some counties and states began to release some inmates from U.S. jails and prisons — focusing on the elderly, those with serious health conditions and low-level offenders.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins is one of several district attorneys in Massachusetts who is reviewing cases to see whom she might recommend for release.
“I’m interested in individuals — non-violent, overwhelmingly — pretrial detainees, who have not been found guilty yet, that are overwhelmingly there because they can’t afford their bail,” she said in an interview with Jim Braude for WGBH News’ Greater Boston on Wednesday. “And then we are also considering … post-conviction, some individuals that have been sentenced that … have public health reasons why they could be released — always balanced with public safety, though.
“And I’d like to add that many of the measures that are going into place right now across the country are my list of 15,” she continued, referring to the list of 15 crimes that she famously said on the campaign trail that her office would, as a default, decline to prosecute. She received public criticism for that proposal from several different groups, including the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association.
She added a reminder about the process involved in releasing inmates during the pandemic.
“I don’t get to make this decision,” she said. “Neither does the criminal defense bar. A judge has to make this decision. … Bail is 100 percent in the court of the judge.”
When asked if she had a response to about Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who recently issued a long statement attacking Rollins’ decision-making on the matter and accused her of politicizing her role, she answered, “Stay in Bristol. And let me do my job. Right? This is what the people of Suffolk County want. … [Inmates] don’t deserve, in addition to the sentence that they got, to be in a haven for COVID-19 and essentially a death warrant, potentially.”
