The Legal Aid Society sounded the alarm over the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s (DOCCS) continued practice of sending New Yorkers to Rikers Island over technical parole violations, non-criminal matters, despite the clear dangers of possible contracting and succumbing to COVID-19, which has already claimed the lives of incarcerated New Yorkers and correction staff alike since March, according to THE CITY.

“It’s unconscionable that in the midst of a pandemic when everyone should be working towards decreasing the jail population, DOCCS continues feed New Yorkers to Rikers Island, ensnared on non-criminal technical parole violations,” said Laura Eraso, staff attorney with the Parole Revocation Defense Unit at The Legal Aid Society.