The Legal Aid Society secured the release of 28 individuals today who had been promised the opportunity to attend a drug treatment program run by the New York State Department of Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS), but who were stuck on Rikers Island because all transfers to state custody have been suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 epidemic sweeping through New York State, reports The Appeal.

“New York cannot block access to treatment programs and leave people in jail behind with nowhere to go, only to wait, wondering if and when they will become infected with COVID-I9, and what will happen to them if they do,” Legal Aid’s petition reads in part.

“I find it unconscionable of state DOCCS [New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision], which runs the parole system in New York, to leave all these people trapped in limbo in local jails with nowhere to go, no ability to be released, no ability to get to their treatment program, just waiting until they become infected with COVID-19,” said Elon Harpaz, a Staff Attorney with the Criminal Appeals Bureau and the Parole Revocation Defense Unit at The Legal Aid Society.