Nearly half of San Francisco's inmate population has been released to avoid coronavirus outbreaks within jails

Stephen Lam/Reuters

• San Francisco County Jail's inmate population has been reduced by nearly 50% since January in a bid to avoid coronavirus outbreaks in jails and prisons.
• Other jail systems across the US are considering inmate population reductions for the same purpose.
• Health officials have long argued that jails are the perfect incubator for viral outbreaks, and now some experts are saying that mass releases could be the best solution to saving thousands of those who are incarcerated.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The number of incarcerated people in San Francisco County jails has been reduced by nearly 50% since January 21, as non-violent offenders are released to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

San Francisco's jail population fell to 766 inmates over weekend, down from 1,238 on January 21, according to a tweet by San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

Jail populations are at a high risk of experiencing coronavirus outbreaks. Large numbers of inmates living in small, confined quarters make it much easier for the disease to spread.

Boudin, whose own father is imprisoned at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, tweeted Monday, "Healthcare professionals demanded we drastically reduce the jail population, so we listened."

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the early release efforts are focused on "low level, low risk" prisoners and serious, violent offenders are not being considered.

The San Francisco Sheriff's office said last month that it was working with the San Francisco Superior Court to identify inmates eligible for early release. On March 20, for example, the Sheriff's office released 26 inmates who had less than 60 days left to serve.

After San Francisco declared a state of emergency on February 25, officials cut the county's inmate population to 1,097, according to a tweet Boudin posted on social media.

Health experts have long argued that prisons are the perfect incubator for outbreaks, and now some officials are saying that mass releases could be the best solution to avoiding coronavirus outbreaks in jails.

"We want to make sure that our institutions don't become Petri dishes," Attorney General William Barr said in a press conference on March 26. "But we have the protocols that are designed to stop that, and we are using all the tools we have to protect the inmates."

At least four staff members of the San Francisco Sheriff's department have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

San Francisco isn't the only locale turning to early releases of prisoners in an effort to avoid outbreaks in jails. A mass release of California inmates is being considered as the number of confirmed cases within the state's prisons reached 13 as of Saturday, as Politico reports.

And New York's Rikers Island is among the few prisons in the US that are releasing high-risk inmates over the age of 70, with the exception of those charged with domestic violence or sexual offense.

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Healthcare professionals demanded we drastically reduce the jail population, so we listened.

On Jan 21, the SF jail population was 1,238.

On March 4, when the emergency was declared, it was 1,097.

Yesterday, it was 766.

Meanwhile, crime rates continue to decrease in SF.

- Chesa Boudin 博徹思 (@chesaboudin) April 6, 2020