I recently posted that Covid - 19 can be a mitigating factor when judges consider whom should be considered for early release.  Now that idea has come to fruition when U.S. District Court Judge Jon S. Tigar has acknowledged that keeping inmates in custody, especially those old and infirm, pose little public danger and that keeping them locked up is a greater health risk than letting them go.  Remember that judges first obligation is public safety, and it turns out that the pandemic is riskier to the public than early release is.

Perhaps it has taken a pandemic to bring to light jail conditions that foster spread of this contagious disease.  Let's hope that humane guidance around early release prevails within the U.S. District Court in Northern California.