Sunday, December 13, 2020 | Sacramento, CA
In this July 9, 2020, file photo, people hold up a banner while listening to a news conference outside San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif.
AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File
By Byrhonda Lyons, CalMatters
In July, amid an epidemic of coronavirus cases, California’s corrections agency rolled out early-release programs touted as a solution to protect inmates at overcrowded prisons. But nearly all of the prisoners selected were scheduled to be released within months anyway, while many inmates with longer sentences remain in prison despite serious health conditions.
About 6,500 inmates in California’s prisons were eligible for release under the state’s high-risk medical release program.