Mobsters, killers, rapists seeking prison release because of coronavirus
Thousands of local, state and federal inmates are pushing to get out from behind bars, calling the jails and prisons “petri dishes” for the coronavirus.
Everyone from killers, drug traffickers and gang members to mobsters, fraudsters and accused rapists are making a bid to get out of the clink.
They are aided by defense lawyers suing for their release, usually citing underlying health issues that make them at risk of catching the deadly disease in crowded conditions.
One inmate at the state prison in Sing Sing died and at least eight federal prisoners in different facilities have fallen victim to the virus, prompting US Attorney General William Barr to push officials to increase the use of home confinement.
Defense attorneys argue coronavirus could be a death sentence for inmates like 81-year-old Rosie Baker, who has kidney disease and diabetes and has been incarcerated for nearly 23 years. Baker and her son Vance were convicted in the June 1997 murder-for-hire of her lover, Dr. Daniel Hodge, as the mother and son’s $2 million Medicaid fraud scheme was unraveling in Brooklyn.
Also seeking release is accused killer Ramzidden Trowell, 42, an HIV-positive asthmatic who is being held at Rikers Island on charges he fatally stabbed a straphanger in the Bronx who opened a subway gate for him.
A judge approved 75-year-old businessman Morris Zukerman’s bid to serve out his tax evasion sentence at home. Zukerman, convicted of dodging $45 million in taxes over 15 years, was sentenced in 2017 to nearly six years in prison.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the release of 1,100 parole violators last week, while the city has let 300 inmates out of Rikers and put them up in hotels. Lawyers are seeking the release of at least another 530 from federal facilities, and public defenders are seeking to get approximately 400 more out. While the city’s district attorneys have consented to the release of some inmates — 272 in Manhattan; about 200 in Brooklyn; 80 in Queens and 63 in the Bronx — prosecutors aren’t giving a thumbs up to every prisoner who is seeking home confinement or outright freedom.
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