Professor John Pfaff was quoted in an article in The Appeal examining lawmakers’ response to the growing concern of COVD-19 outbreaks in prisons.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania are preparing to introduce a bill early this week that would establish an emergency furlough program to temporarily release some people in state prison in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the bill is narrow, some lawmakers say, and leaves far too many people confined and vulnerable to contracting the disease.
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“[This] bill, that from the start excludes easily 75 to 80 percent of people from even applying for release, isn’t going to get you the reductions that allow for social distancing among people held in prisons and proper social distancing between prisoners and correctional officers,” said John Pfaff, a law professor at Fordham University.