Release Offenders currently serving sentences in the Missouri Department of Corrections who are scheduled for a 2020 release date with non-violent, DWI, drug related cases or probation and parole violations and have a current approved Transition Action Plan (TAP) in place or one that can be completed due to the Coronavirus.

This virus is not a joke and the prisons are already understaffed and overcrowded. The staff is not equipped as it is to handle the number of offenders and should even one person contract it, not only are the offenders at risk, but every staff member will be compromising the health of their own families. Protective equipment is not fully available for healthcare in hospitals outside of the prisons, and should anyone contract it inside, the likelihood of it spreading like wildfire is reality. Only 9 months are left in 2020. If an offender is scheduled for a 2020 release date, especially if it is their 12/12 date, with completing their full sentence, they should be allowed to be released to help their families cope with the hardships created by this pandemic. 

Ohio has done it so that the families can reunite with their loved ones and that these “inmates” have a fighting chance against the Coronavirus Pandemic. Why should we wait and have a situation like LA did with Hurricane Katrina? Why wait for the prisons to be overrun with infections and minimal staff to help them get the medical care needed. Please don’t let this spread and get so bad that families can’t go pick up their loved ones or the prisons open doors and many “people” are left stranded. Be ahead of the situation like the State of OH. 

WE DON'T WANT WHAT IS HAPPENING AT RIKER'S ISLAND TO HAPPEN HERE OR IN ANY OTHER STATE!! The number of people being monitored in contagious disease and quarantine units in the NYC correctional system has more than doubled from 26 to 56 in less than a week.