The Legal Aid Society is calling for the immediate decarceration of City jail as newly released data shows 37% of incarcerated New Yorkers have tested positive for COVID-19, as reported by the New York Daily News.

Only 38.5% of people in the City’s jail system are fully vaccinated and more than half the population have yet to get a first dose of the vaccine.  With the latest surge in the Omicron variant of the virus, an extraordinarily dangerous environment for people in custody is even more dire.

“Omicron is ripping through City jails, yet judges, district attorneys and the city have all refused to implement the only meaningful solution to prevent further spread, suffering and possible loss of life: decarceration,” said Tina Luongo, Attorney-in-Charge of The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice. “We call on all these stakeholders, including elected officials, to do right by their constituents, New Yorkers, to immediately decrease the local jail population.”