Tell County Attorney Adel: Get People Out of Dangerous Jail Conditions NOW!

TAKE ACTION NOW

More than 5,700 people are incarcerated in Maricopa County jails. Many of them have not been convicted of a crime and are being held pre-trial simply because they cannot pay their cash bail. Such pre-trail detention is always an injustice but now is life-threatening given the spread of COVID-19. It is almost certain that once the virus begins to spread in county jails, it will be unstoppable and will threaten the health and safety of those in the jails and in the larger community.

Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel has immense power to limit the jail population. She can use this power to proactively work to release the vast majority of people incarcerated pre-trial. She can also reduce how often her prosecutors ask for those convicted of crimes to serve jail or prison sentences. Adel’s current approach, however, has been to provide neatly packaged soundbites to the media without providing details of exactly what actions her office is taking to ensure the safety of those locked in our jails. She has ignored four requests to meet with the ACLU Smart Justice team to come up with resolutions that will keep the entire community safe. Help us ramp up our efforts by emailing her today and asking her to take immediate steps to bring people home and out of harm’s way!

Message recipients: Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel

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Subject

I am greatly concerned about the health and safety of people incarcerated in Maricopa County jails. You must do more to protect them and the larger community from the spread of COVID-19, by immediately pushing for the broad release of people being held pre-trial.

Message Body

As county attorney, you have immense power to limit the jail population by seeking the release of those held pretrial and by drastically reducing your requests for carceral-based sentences.
You should immediately: 
- Direct all prosecutors to move for release in all but the very few cases where pretrial detention is absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of the public.  This release effort should be made with a special focus on populations who the CDC has identified as particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. 
- Institute a review-and-release protocol in all cases in which bail was sought and imposed over the past sixty days.
- Instruct all prosecutors, when seeking a plea or requesting a sentence, to view incarceration as a last resort, and to refrain from seeking community-based sentences –such as curfews, geographic restrictions, or electronic monitoring – that limit a person’s ability to seek medical help or care for a loved one who has COVID-19. 
- Move the courts to temporarily suspend all fines and fees so that people are not at risk of incarceration due to non-payment. 
- Direct prosecutors to dismiss cases involving minor offenses, thereby limiting the amount of time a person must spend in court. This will also help to relieve an overburdened court system that should be trying to limit in-person court appearances for the safety of judges, attorneys, and court staff.

Lastly, I hope you will respond to the ACLU of Arizona’s repeated requests to arrange a meeting so people most impacted by the criminal legal system and other criminal legal reform advocates can have a seat at the table in the decision-making process during this crucial time.

Thank you and I look forward to a response,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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Tell County Attorney Adel: Get People Out of Dangerous Jail Conditions NOW!

TAKE ACTION NOW

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