News at 6. Now at 6 with the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus and mounting pressure to protect california inmates from covid19 governor Gavin Newsome announces thousands of inmates could soon be freed from prison. Good evening. Thank you so much for joining us here on kron 4 news at 6 im Justine Waldman now with covid19 racing through the state prison system. Governor newsom is taking additional action to slow the virus is spread by thinning out the prison population through an Early Release program kron fours dan kerman is live for us now and dan as we understand it has many of these inmates almost a 1000 of them could be released by the end of august. Thats right 8,000 by the end of august so far the prison population has already been reduced by about 10,000 add another to that and thats going to happen in less than 2 months. Of the more than 2300 current state Prison Inmates that are positive with covid19. More than half are at san quentin with more than 30 inmate deaths state
Help were clear. Let them go [ applause ] reporter and now Governor Newsom has responded. A plan to battle the virus that is wreaking havoc inside california prisons, now up to 8,000 inmates could be eligible for Early Release by the end of august. I think its a good step. Reporter former inmates and advocates have been worried, especially surrounding san quentin, the site of the states largest covid19 outbreak. 7 prisoners have died. We cant afford the luxury of a slow roll out and continuing to make incremental changes in the state prison populations. We need a large scale release. We need to follow the Public Health experts leadership on this. Health experts agree. Large packed settings are a prime place for the disease to spread. Its really a chicken coop of risks for covid. Reporter ucfs doctor peter plods the governors decision to then the prison population, but remains fearful. It may not be enough. The devil is in the details. Because 8,000 inmate six only 7 of the states count
Just over one hour ago the School District announcing students will be headed back to class but with big changes. Good evening. Betty yu is in oakland with the latebreaking details. Reporter the unified School District said the first day of school this year will not be filled with the kind of joy and excitement that teachers, parents and staff traditionally look forward to because of the pandemic and we are hearing initial pushback against the plan that was just released via a Virtual Press conference. School in oakland will begin in one month with Distance Learning for all students and the district will introduce phases of blended learning where students will attend Student School in person and to some Distance Learning. The district expects that the first base phase will last for weeks and it will ensure the school sites in oakland will have enough time to implement covid 19 safety plans. The district is also encouraging everyone in the community and that is students and teachers to
Quinton last december. I dont think a reduction of 8,000 people will create enough space, but i think its a good first step. The idea is to maximize space and protect those vulnerable. You cant have that kind of overcrowding and expect a good outcome when covid19 is raging in our state. Its a good first step and we need to do more to reduce our prison population and do it in a healthy and sustainable way. The releases will come on rolling basis. Those who are serving time for Violent Crimes, Domestic Violence or highrisk for committing a Violent Crime or have sentences requiring them to register as a sex offender are not eligible. At san quinton there are tents and beds in an extended area for those who fall ill. People are tested days before they are released. If they are negative they will be released to the jurisdiction. We are being notified of those inmates. Christie smith, nbc bay area news. We are breaking records we dont want to break. New infections and death. This graph shows
On the embarcadero about 2 miles away from where this fire is burning right now, San Francisco fire saying the flames are coming from a garage and i want to show you what crews are dealing with right now this is video just in to the kron 4 news room that a viewer posted on twitter you can see huge amounts of black smoke filling the sky and kron fours taylor sackey also nearby in the area and she shared this video on twitter as well we can see flames coming from behind those 2 victorian buildings and firefighters there on the stairs trying to lift that hose going into the back of the building actually gets stuck to sort of on the tire of the car thats parked there. The firefighter than us to go lifted up. Theyre trying to get the hose there into the back so they can get this fire out those orange flames, theyre very visible. In this video. Now there are no reports of any injuries at this time and we dont have any word right now on how this fire started i did hear from some kron 4 news v