By WEIHUA LI, BETH SCHWARTZAPFEL and MICHAEL R. SISAK, Associated Press
It wasn’t long after Matthew Reed shoplifted a $63 set of sheets from a Target in upstate New York that the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a standstill.
Instead of serving a jail sentence, he stayed at home, his case deferred more than a year, as courts closed and jails nationwide dramatically reduced their populations to stop the spread of COVID-19.
But the numbers have begun creeping up again as courts are back in session and the world begins returning to a modified version of normal. It’s worrying criminal justice reformers who argue that the past year proved there is no need to keep so many people locked up in the U.S.
The building, previously known as the TruValue building, has been a topic of discussion in recent months.Â
In January, the court passed a motion to allow the county to purchase if the seller would agree to the purchase price of $285,000 with no interest if the county paid the full amount over a five-year period.Â
Justice Carlton Lawrence told the court that the county needed to purchase or lease something to store all of the new voting equipment in. While shopping for that, county officials came across the offer for the TruValue building, which already borders county property, specifically the county yard.