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No public notice was given by Gov. Phil Murphy’s office of the latest releases, which corrections officials said resumed Thursday with 260 inmates freed.
These come at a time when “violent crime me in some of our cities has gotten so bad” that “many urban mayors who supported bail reform are demanding a new law that would keep dangerous criminals in jail until trial,” state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25) said.
An estimated 40% of New Jersey's prison population already were paroled early the past two years in what state authorities touted as a way to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in those facilities.
One of those inmates was later charged with killing two people at a birthday party. Another was charged with shooting and killing an 18-year-old man just two days after his release.
Then there’s Tyrrek Cook, who had been sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 51 months in state prison for convictions of nearly a dozen crimes that included the invasion of a police officer’s home.
Cook was released in November 2020 after serving 34 months. He was arrested six months later and returned to custody after police in Warren County said they found him carrying 100 heroin folds, 29 bags of crack and a gun loaded with hollow-point bullets during a traffic stop.
It was early in the pandemic two years ago when New Jersey’s prisons reported the highest coronavirus death rates of any state correctional facility in the country.
The New Jersey Legislature, in turn, drafted and adopted a law that allows authorities to award "public health emergency credits" to certain offenders in an effort to slow the spread of the virus by reducing the prison population.
It allowed certain qualified inmates with a year or less left on their sentences to shave off up to eight months.
Roughly 5,300 inmates – and sex offenders – had gotten early parole under the new law when Murphy lifted the public health emergency last October.
The Democrat governor “re-declared” a public health emergency last month amid the omicron variant surge. This re-enacted early release.
It initially appeared that up to 800 inmates would be freed over the course of this latest round. That number has ballooned, however -- and could reach as many as 1,200 inmates, with at least 10 sex offenders, corrections sources told Daily Voice.
Proponents say the program has struck a balance between public safety and the health and well-being of inmates, corrections officers and staff.
The opponents include Bucco. Given the disastrous effects of bail reform, the state senator said, New Jersey officials should take steps to ease concerns over public safety.
Instead, Murphy is “throwing gas on the fire,” Bucco said. “It’s absolutely nuts and beyond tone-deaf.”
Under the early release law, the only inmates not eligible are those convicted of murder or aggravated sexual assault, repetitive, compulsive sex offenders and those whose maximum release date is beyond one year.
As for the rest: Anyone with under a year left qualifies for a reduction up to eight months. That includes other violent criminals and certain sex offenders. Incarcerated juveniles are also included, as are parolees in good standing.
The measure requires that victims be notified at least 30 days before an inmate's early release. Notification is also made to county prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, including the New Jersey State Police.
Any ex-con who violates any of the terms must be returned to prison.
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