Dozens of inmates freed from city jails over fears they were vulnerable to the coronavirus have wasted no time plaguing the city with new crimes, The New York Post has reported.
Out of the more than 1500 inmates cut loose in recent weeks, more than 50 have committed crimes to land back and in jail and some released again.
One felon included a Rikers Island inmate initially jailed for allegedly setting his girlfriend’s door on fire and choking her mother. He was released early and returned to the Bronx apartment and allegedly threatened to kill the whole family.
Another prisoner was arrested for punching an agency sergeant just two days after his release.
The move by New York city to released inmates due to COVID-19 concerns has been a dream of criminal justice reformers.
The Legal Aid Society and Bronx Defenders have been petitioning courts throughout the city since the coronavirus outbreak.
NYPD sources say that the re-offenders are “targeting the most vulnerable victims” once they’re out.
“This is outrageous,” one police source said. “Our concern was that, you know, we really didn’t have much of a say at all. They did confer on some, but the majority of releases, we were never conferred with.”
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea who supported “compassionate release if we can do it safely” has now said that he fears that prisoners are taking advantage of the situation.
Over 300 of those released from jails were facing violent felony charges with repeat offender Darryl Naser being arrested five times in April alone after being released on March 27.
Among the other inmates recently released and re-arrested is Victor Castillo, a 32-year-old Brooklyn man who has been arrested three times since being set free on March 24 — twice for criminal trespassing and once for allegedly breaking a bodega window to steal cash, police sources said.