Letter of Recommendations to Protect Individuals in Georgia’s Correctional System during COVID-19

To: Georgia Sheriffs, All Courts, City and County Elected Officials, State Representatives, State Senators, and the Governor
From: Reform Georgia
Re: Letter of Recommendations to Protect Individuals from COVID-19 in City, County, and State Correctional Facilities
Date: May 30, 2020

It is the wish of advocates to ensure that individuals within the correctional system and those who come into contact with the criminal legal system are not placed at an increased risk of COVID-19. We are calling for measures to be taken by state and local governments, law enforcement agencies, and correctional facilities in order to prevent and reduce the risk of harm to vulnerable individuals and the risk of contributing to community spread. 

All individuals in correctional facilities and in the custody of law enforcement are in a vulnerable situation made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and it is in the interest of the public good and public health to protect vulnerable individuals around the state. It is not just the elderly or medically fragile who need to be taken into consideration. Younger and asymptomatic are also at risk and upon release can become accidental agents of spread in their families and community.

Arrest and incarceration for low-level offenses and “quality of life” crimes by local law enforcement agencies risks unnecessary exposure for both the individuals involved and the law enforcement official. 

Local county jails in Georgia on any given day have about 37,000 people in facilities across the state. However, because average stays in jail are about two weeks, many, many more than that pass through jails each year, with an estimated 240,000 people passing through Georgia county jails each year. This represents a huge risk for exposure and viral spread in communities throughout the state. It is a problem we should seek to aggressively address, and there are plenty of easy ways Georgia communities can do so.

Below follows a list of goals and recommendations to address the challenges and threats created by COVID-19 and faced by individuals within the correctional system in Georgia as well as the correctional staff and law enforcement officials that work for state and local governments. We recognize and appreciate those communities and agencies which have already undertaken some of these efforts. It requires a collective effort to protect the safety of individuals within the correctional system and our communities at large.

Goals and Recommendations:

1. Reduce arrest encounters between public and law enforcement for non-serious offenses
   • Local law enforcement agencies should implement “citation in lieu of arrest” for all non-serious crimes, including “quality of life” offenses and low-level drug offenses. 

2. Reduce the number of people detained and incarcerated in county and city jails.
   • Halt cash bail and implement the use of signatory bonds to avoid individuals being held in jail while awaiting trial.
   • Release individuals currently being held on bail on signatory bonds, which represents the majority of individuals held in a county jail on any given day.
   • Facilities releasing individuals should ensure that discharge planning occurs for individuals with a need for housing or other community-based services so that they can be connected to resources that will support safe re-entry.
   • Implement a grace period for individuals who are not able to pay their probation fees.

3. Take measures to ensure safety and wellbeing of individuals in correctional facilities
   • Access to free or at-cost communication for individuals continuing to be held in state and local correctional facilities.
   • Provide all individuals with increased access to soap and sanitation facilities.
   • Adopt policy that mandates the free and unrestricted access to feminine hygiene and menstrual products for women in Georgia state AND local correctional facilities.
   • Provision of cloth face masks to help reduce the spread of COVID among incarcerated individuals.
   • Restrict the use of the psychologically harmful practice of solitary confinement.
   • Eliminate co-pay fees for all medical services during this situation.
   • Provide regular access to no-cost telephonic mental health services.
   • Release of incarcerated pregnant women with less than a year remaining on their sentence (ACLU).

4. Prevent the creation of conditions that result in recidivism or encounters with the criminal legal system.
   • Halt the filing of evictions. Hundreds of thousands of hard working Georgians have had to file for unemployment since February and many more are facing financial hardship during this period. Although evictions cannot be carried out while court is not being held, the eviction filing still goes on their record and creates barriers to housing, putting them at significantly greater risk of homelessness and encounters with the legal system. 

5. Increased data reporting about the impact of COVID in state, county, and city facilities
   • Where state and local early releases or furloughed releases have occurred, and what number of people were released.
   • The number of reported infections in state facilities, including demographic details, and details about infections among facility staff. 
   • Reporting of measures state agencies are taking to protect state incarcerated individuals and correctional officers and staff.
   • Request of data from all county jails to report what measures are being taken to protect the health and safety of individuals in custody, as well as staff.

6. Make temporary accommodations to state and local probationary policies to address the impacts of COVID-19. The below recommendations come from advocate organization Georgia Justice Project, and we direct you to the entirety of the three-page document of recommendations, summarized below:
   • Waiving probation fees for at least six months, so fees do not accumulate;
   • Suspending restitution payments;
   • Suspending special conditions imposed as part of a sentence; and
   • Suspending issuance of probation warrants for technical violations.
     
7. Further, we endorse the coalition recommendations of the Georgia Justice Reform Partnership to the Georgia Department of Corrections and Board of Pardons and Paroles and direct you to the 4-page letter of recommendations.