GOV. BROWN: RELEASE ALL NONVIOLENT OFFENDERS & DISMISS ALL NONVIOLENT CASES IN PROGRESS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC. KEEP PEOPLE HEALTHY BY KEEPING THEM OUT OF OREGON’S OVERCROWDED CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. 

COVID-19 has brought to light the many failures of our criminal justice system. Governor Brown, it’s time to take a stand for those whose voices are consistently underrepresented in our community.

It is only a matter of time before COVID-19 makes its way into our jails and prisons. We can slow the spread by dismissing all nonviolent cases in progress, recalling all nonviolent warrants and releasing all nonviolent offenders in custody. 
The Oregon Judicial System is still conducting in person arraignments for criminal charges. This requires those taken in on warrants to sit for hours, if not days, in jail booking facilities—spaces that are not equipped for or capable of providing the social distancing recommendations that Governor Brown herself has instituted to keep the rest of us safe. It is time to enact sweeping change to prevent nonviolent offenders from entering these systems entirely. 
A drug charge, for example, should not be a death sentence. COVID-19 coupled with the overcrowding present in most jails’ booking facilities puts nonviolent offenders at extreme risk. It is time to mitigate that risk for the greater good and recall all nonviolent warrants, dismissing all nonviolent cases in progress. Furthermore, many of these cases are drug-related: it’s time to stop incarcerating members of our community with substance abuse problems. 
Finally, we need to reduce prison and jail populations drastically to flatten the curve in our criminal justice system. This is why we are calling for the release of all nonviolent inmates and all nonviolent probation violations. House arrest and ankle monitoring devices are available—utilize them. 
Baltimore, MD has already instituted all of these changes to protect their citizens. Governor Brown, please help us do the same and slow the spread before it’s too late.