Nora Mishanec
Dec. 6, 2020; Updated: Dec. 7, 2020
As the coronavirus tore through California prisons this summer, a chorus of activists, health officials, doctors and judges implored Gov. Gavin Newsom to shrink the state’s inmate population and release some of the sickest and frailest prisoners — those most likely to die if they contracted COVID-19.
On July 5, the same day two San Quentin prisoners died of coronavirus, the head of health care in the state’s prison system delivered a list of more than 6,500 medically high-risk inmates to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Newsom then pledged to release 8,000 prisoners by the end of August.
Read full story at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Chronicle staff writer Jason Fagone contributed to this report.
Nora Mishanec is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NMishanec
