Inmates seen trying to infect themselves with coronavirus so they can be released
Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, reacts on 'Fox & Friends' to the incident in Los Angeles.
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New York State government -- and local governments nationwide -- cannot solve a public health crisis like coronavirus by creating a public safety crisis with the release of inmates, the president of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association urged Tuesday.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with host Brian Kilmeade, Elias Husamudeen said that a recent report revealing inmates in Los Angeles, Calif., had been caught trying to infect themselves with COVID-19 to force their release from jail was not at all surprising.
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"We have inmates in our jail deliberately coughing on correction officers, trying to get them sick, which should be a felony," he remarked. "But, in New York City, inmates don't even have to do that, because they've released more than 1,700 inmates over the last couple of months and they've given them cell phones, gift cards, and hotel stays as well. So, I wish we had that sheriff here in New York City and we probably wouldn't have that problem."
Husamudeen believes that the best way to fight the virus's spread in prisons is not by releasing criminals, but by utilizing distancing techniques. He pointed out that the inmate population in New York City is lower than it has been in the last 30 years.
"We have the ability to reduce or change the officer-to-inmate ratio but it doesn't seem to be something that our public officials or our commissioner is interested in doing. And the reality is -- there's no other way to put it. You are not going to solve this COVID-19 problem by releasing people into the streets," he stated.
"They've done it in New York City and most of the people that they’ve released have already come back and have already committed other crimes. Here in New York, I don't know about anywhere else, but tens of thousands of inmates commit the same crime. They commit crimes two to seven times per year. They are in and out of our jails," Husamudeen explained.
Husamudeen went on to tell Kilmeade that he believes the bottom line comes down to those making the decisions on behalf of the city's safety.
"When it comes to safety, every city in New York should be safe and we need people who can really make real decisions that [are] good for America, good for New York, good for correction officers, [and] those of us who are forced to work in this, you know, in this environment," he continued further.
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"Correction officers don't have the luxury of working from home so we've had to come to work every day. When they reopened the government, we never closed."
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