California and coronavirus: Steve DeAngelo calls for the release of cannabis inmates

Steve DeAngelo, founder of the Harborside dispensary in California and of the organization Last Prisoner Project (LPP), which fights for the release of all people incarcerated for a cannabis-related offence, released a video statement calling for the release of prisoners incarcerated for cannabis as the coronavirus spreads through the US prison system.

«When you're locked in a cell, ... you're powerless,» said DeAngelo, describing the epidemic from the prisoners« point of view. »You have no control over your food, your social distance, even the air you breathe. And already, the coronavirus is in prison."

In an accompanying press release, LPP outlines a number of actions legislators should take to immediately help reduce the impact of COVID-19 among prison populations, including:

• Identify prisoners scheduled for release in the next six months and send them home in confinement
• Conditional release of prisoners aged 65 and over, with priority given to those at particular risk of contracting the virus
• Reducing direct supervision of inmates to promote social distancing
• Suspension of chargeable medical examinations for prisoners
• Free video and telephone calls for prisoners
• Release of all cannabis prisoners

«There are 2.3 million people in the United States in prison, and the best way to immediately reduce that number would be to release every single person who is there on cannabis charges, because it never should have been a crime in the first place.» - Steve DeAngelo, in his statement

This request from Steve DeAngelo accompanies the statements of certain police departments who have announced that they will no longer travel for non-emergency situations, in order to reduce social interactions between agents and potentially infected individuals.

The Washington D.C. police, for their part continued to make non-essential arrests, including for illegal cannabis distribution, despite the fact that personal cannabis cultivation and possession have been legalized in the district.