The Legal Aid Society, in a recently issued demand letter, called on Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Department of Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to immediately release ten pregnant women currently incarcerated at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, New York to protect them and their unborn children from serious complications from COVID-19, reports the New York Daily News.

All of these women are serving sentences for non-violent crimes, and some are held as a result of technical parole violations. Some are due to be released in just a few weeks, and all have release dates within a year. These womens’ due dates are fast approaching, with many due within the next two months and two women due to give birth in less than three weeks.

The urgency is illustrated by the situation of a 19-year-old girl, who is due to give birth in a matter of days, who was already hospitalized last week with early labor pains, and whose mother is desperate for her and her soon-to-be born grandchild to come live with her in a small town in upstate New York. Legal Aid issued this demand letter to Governor Cuomo’s Administration one day before state correction’s officials announced that DOCCS will begin reviewing and releasing incarcerated women who are pregnant or postpartum. However, these reviews may take too long, and DOCCS has not said whether these Legal Aid clients at Bedford Hills – which already has 38 confirmed cases and one death from COVID-19, the first woman to die in New York State prisons from the virus – will be eligible for immediate release.

“While we welcome Gov. Cuomo’s announcement…it’s critical that our clients and other women who are soon to give birth or have just given birth be released immediately,” said Sophie Gebreselassie, Staff Attorney with the Prisoners’ Rights Project at The Legal Aid Society. “There are (also) thousands of other vulnerable New Yorkers currently languishing in state prison who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 and at imminent risk. Gov. Cuomo must do right by these people and grant their immediate release as well. Failure to do so will continue to result in the needless loss of life.”