Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has a plan to stop the coronavirus: release thousands of potentially dangerous jail inmates.
Huh?
Yep. Because when you ask yourself how to stop this health crisis, the first thing that probably comes to mind is freeing all the prisoners.
As a full-fledged coronavirus outbreak at the Harris County jail becomes increasingly likely, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced she would be putting in an order for the release of some inmates.
Officials have been struggling for more than a week to come up with a joint plan to release as many people from the country's third largest lockup as possible, focusing on inmates accused of nonviolent offenses.
"We are not releasing anybody with a violent history," Hidalgo said at an afternoon press conference announcing the planned order, which has not yet been signed. She said she was taking the action to stay ahead of a public health catastrophe. She stressed that only people with no violent history would be included, and that there would be electronic monitoring and other measures taken to keep track of those released.
"The problem is we're still at a population of almost 8,000," she said. "Imagine them needing beds and ventilators."