Hundreds of convicted and accused criminals released in New York City due to coronavirus concerns have been rearrested 450 times.
At least 250 alleged and convicted criminals released from Rikers Island Prison following a directive from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who argued the move would help stop the spread of the coronavirus, have been rearrested 450 times, NBC New York reported.
The data show that during the time since Cuomo issued an order mandating prisons to obey social distancing guidelines by releasing criminals, at least 250 inmates out of the 2,500 released have reoffended.
“We’re continuing to see people get arrested over and over and let right back out. And it really defies common sense,” New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said in an interview.
One rearrest involved a 27-year-old named Jonathan Martinez. He has been charged with a crime six times since November 2019 and was arrested seven days following his release under Cuomo’s directive after reportedly robbing someone at knifepoint. Martinez was released without bail following that arrest due to Cuomo’s recent bail reform law.
Defendants released from Rikers Island have been reoffending since at least mid-May, when it was reported that more than 100 inmates had already reoffended after being released.
A quarter of those arrests were for burglaries, which amounted to a 43% increase of break-in crimes from the previous month, per NYPD data.
Releasing potentially dangerous alleged criminals and convicted criminals from jail during the pandemic was embraced by many large cities across the country, including Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
