Trump says he'll try to prevent 'young' prisoners being released from jail over coronavirus fears

Despite the potential for the coronavirus to ravage prison populations, President Donald Trump said he disagreed with allowing prisoners to go free and said he’d look into options to prevent state and local authorities from making those decisions.

During a press conference on Thursday, Mr Trump said he and his staff were examining whether he has the powers to stop state and local officials from releasing prisoners in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus through prison populations.

Across the country, officials have made the decision to release non-violent offenders and prisoners whose release dates are in the near future.

California is preparing to release 3,500 inmates early. The Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has already freed 1,700 inmates - all of whom had been imprisoned for nonviolent misdemeanours.

Last week, New Jersey released 1,000 inmates, and more than 600 were released from Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh.

“But some states are letting people out of prison, some people are getting out that are very serious criminals in some states, and I don’t like that, I don’t like it,” Mr Trump said. “We don’t like it, the people don’t like it and we’re looking to see if I have the right to stop it in some cases.”

Mr Trump did not clarify what he meant by “serious criminals” nor did he cite exactly who he was referring to who “don’t like it.”

Thus far, all prisoner releases have been nonviolent offenders.

Mr Trump also seemed to take exception to the idea that inmates are a vulnerable population, and suggested they would fare better against the virus due to their age.

“Well there’s vulnerable and then there’s close together, really,” Mr Trump said. “I can’t tell you about age, but a lot of young people in prison.”

Nearly 40 percent of coronavirus patients who become hospitalised are aged 20 to 54, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In New York City, one in four hospitalised patients were between the ages of 18 and 49.

The rationale behind releasing inmates is to prevent catastrophic spread of the virus through the prison population, which would add to the strain on medical resources and personnel already facing hospitals as the number of infected individuals climbs across the country.

Speaking with The New York Times, Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, said “our jails are petri dishes.”

He speaks from personal experience; last week, the Cook County jail in Chicago had two inmates who tested positive for coronavirus. On Sunday, that number had grown to 101 inmates and a dozen employees.

The cramped cells and prohibition of hand sanitiser means that even the most basic protective actions are unavailable to prisoners, making the potential for a mass viral spread enormous.

Health experts, lawyers and some prosecutors are concerned that the drive to release inmates to help slow the spread is moving too slowly.