Release low-risk prisoners to prevent COVID-19 outbreak, say advocates calling for ‘immediate action’

It’s not a matter of ‘if, but when' COVID-19 will reach Canada's prisons, says Sen. Kim Pate, who, like NDP MP Jack Harris, sees it as a matter of ‘life and death,’ and is demanding ‘immediate’ action.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the government is 'committed to reducing the risk' of COVID-19 in prisons, where there is yet to be a confirmed case in the inmate population, but would not say whether his office is considering release of low-risk prisoners as advocates have urged. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

March 25, 2020

Canada should be releasing low-risk inmates as part of the prison system’s response to COVID-19, say advocates who worry a strategy that doesn’t drop the vulnerable population’s numbers to facilitate better social distancing

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