Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined the growing chorus of Democrats calling for elderly criminals to be released from prison as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
AOC (D-NY) made the comments during a roundtable discussion held by Senator Bernie Sanders this past Sunday.
At issue are elderly prisoners held at the notorious Rikers Island facility where she said America “must ensure” it is granting “elderly clemency.”
‘Decarceral Policy’
AOC called for the implementation of what she calls “decarceral policy.”
“One thing that we need to do right now is really hit fast forward on progressive developments and pursuing decarceral policy because people’s lives are at risk,” she stated. “There are people in jails right now, in situations that are completely destitute and wrong.”
The first question that comes to mind is – How did they end up in those situations?
“Decarceral” incidentally, according to a former candidate in the Democratic primary for Queens County’s District Attorney in New York, means “actively oppos(ing) jailing people as a response to crime.”
.@AOC on decarceral policy & how COVID will affect people in prisons, jails & detention. Folks in prisons have always been last priority, forgotten in conversations & will be the hardest hit bc of the inhumane conditions they’re in. Amplify their voices
— Liz George (@lizgeorge27) March 23, 2020
RELATED: Squad’s Ayanna Pressley Suggests Freeing Prisoners To Help Fight Coronavirus
Rikers Release
Reports surfaced on Sunday that 21 male inmates at Rikers have tested positive for the coronavirus.
“We need to provide elderly clemency,” Ocasio-Cortez insists. “There are plenty of people on Rikers … who quite literally need someone to take care of them and they’re still kept in a cage in Rikers Island and in prisons throughout the United States.”
“We need to ensure that we are granting elderly clemency in the United States,” she added.
Harvey Weinstein, the 68-year-old former film producer serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault, tested positive for coronavirus after being held briefly at Rikers.
Ocasio-Cortez also praised criminals held in Rikers for striking and refusing their labor assignments due to being paid “slave wages.”
.@AOC praises Rikers inmates for going on “strike” over the “slave wages” they’re being paid to disinfect/clean the prison pic.twitter.com/i7Z1ODfuoj
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 23, 2020
RELATED: Dr. Fauci: President Trump’s Travel Ban Is What May Save This Country From Becoming Italy
Who Agrees With AOC?
Fellow ‘Squad’ member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), brought up the possibility of freeing prisoners as a means to combat the spread of coronavirus last week.
“I think now would be the time to commute some sentences, to exact clemency and to take care of our most vulnerable,” she told the anti-Reverand, Al Sharpton.
Can anyone read Morse code? I think she’s blinking T-O-R-T-U-R-E, which would make sense, given what agony it is to listen to this daffy cue ball head. pic.twitter.com/4gxPjGlTdd
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) March 14, 2020
Pressley and other Democrat extremists siding with AOC on this may not surprise you. This might, however …
President Trump said he was contemplating an executive order to release elderly, nonviolent offenders from federal prisons in response to the pandemic.
“We’re going to take a look at it. It’s a bit of a problem,” Trump said. “We’re talking about totally nonviolent prisoners, we are actually looking at that, yes.”
The difference here is that the President is quick to note he is only talking about ‘nonviolent’ prisoners.
Thus far, Democrats have not been willing to discern between violent, high-risk criminals as opposed to those who are not.
