Stefen Short, Staff Attorney in The Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project, appeared on WNYC’s Capitol Pressroom podcast to demand clemency for vulnerable New Yorkers during the COVID-19pandemic.

Legal Aid has filed 40 clemency applications for individuals currently incarcerated and are near their release date or are a member of an at-risk population.

“There’s no effort this department could take to fully mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 inside the prison,” Short said in the interview. “And so, as long as that’s the case, the best option is to release people.”

Listen to the full podcast below.