Around New England

Ayanna Pressley Says Release Prisoners So They Don’t Get Coronavirus

November 11, 2020

Ayanna Pressley wants Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to let more people out of prisons and jails.

The reason:  she doesn’t want them to get coronavirus.

“With the stroke of a pen, Governor Baker can release incarcerated individuals across our commonwealth who pose no risk to their communities, but are at great risk themselves of contracting and suffering from Covid-19,” Pressley said, according to CBS Boston.

Since the start of the pandemic, Baker says the state has paroled hundreds of inmates early to prevent them from getting the virus.

There is a 77 percent chance that released state prisoners will be re-arrested within five years, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice.