Reducing Jail Populations

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/opinion/letters/coronavirus-prisons.html

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To the Editor:

Re “No Death Sentences for Minor Offenses” (editorial, April 24):

Michigan has emerged as a model for prioritizing safe reduction of jail populations. Wayne County’s (Detroit’s) jail population, which normally hovers around 1,700 people, has fallen below 1,000 for the first time in a generation. Neighboring Macomb County now has fewer than 500 people detained in a 1,200-bed jail.

State and county leaders responded to the pandemic by acknowledging that many people serving short criminal sentences, or jailed while awaiting trial, can safely self-quarantine at home. But even before the pandemic, they were pursuing policy changes to better distinguish at each decision point — from arrest to pretrial release to sentencing — people who pose an immediate threat to public safety from those who can reasonably remain in the community.

In the economically uncertain times ahead, Michigan counties will be hard pressed to come up with the total of half a billion dollars needed to cover the cost of operating the state’s 81 jails at their pre-Covid-19 levels. Similar financial considerations, along with a commitment to public safety, should inform every state’s plan for longer term policy change in the years ahead.

Jake HorowitzWashingtonThe writer is director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ public safety performance project.

To the Editor:

“In a Crisis, True Leaders Stand Out” (editorial, May 1) did not recognize Turkey’s accomplishments against the coronavirus.

Turkey has formed a scientific advisory board, comprising leading medical experts and professors of infectious diseases, to devise its game plan in response to the pandemic. Since then, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration has been managing Turkey’s response based on scientists’ recommendations.

The numbers speak for themselves.

While your editorial hailed Germany — where the Covid-19 mortality rate is nearly 83 per million — as a success story, Turkey, where that number is about 40, was notably absent.

Thanks to its free and universal health care system, into which President Erdogan’s government has invested billions since 2002, Turkey successfully slowed down new infections and has treated more than 60,000 patients.

Finally, our powerful manufacturing industry, in cooperation with relevant agencies, enabled the government to provide surgical masks to all citizens free of charge. Turkey has also donated or sold medical supplies and ventilators to 55 countries, including the United States.

To draw the right lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is crucial to acknowledge all successful nations and learn from their experiences.

Fahrettin AltunAnkara, TurkeyThe writer is Turkey’s communications director.