Oscar winning Hollywood actor Joaquin Phoenix has called on New York State to release some of its prisoners because of the coronavirus.
In a video shared on Twitter by the ‘Release Aging People in Prison Campaign’, the ‘Joker’ star, 45, speaks to camera about why he feels its important to release prisoners.
In the video, he says the spread of the coronavirus in U.S. prisons is a threat to everyone in the country.
The tweet began: ‘A message from Oscar award-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix,’ who in the video says: ‘I’m calling on governor Andrew Cuomo to take action in New York by granting clemency to New Yorkers in prison.
‘The lives of so many people depend on his action. No one deserves to die in prison from COVID-19.’
New York’s constitution gives the governor the power to grant clemency to any person in the state’s prison system, meaning that Cuomo could reduce a sentence or grant release for any prisoner if he chose to.
In a video shared by the ‘Release Aging People in Prison Campaign’ on Twitter, Joaquin Phoenix calls on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to release prisoner at risk of dying from the coronavirus
In the video, shared under this tweet from the campaign group, Pheonix says: ‘I’m calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to take action in New York by granting clemency to New Yorkers in prison. ‘The lives of so many people depend on his action.’
Pheonix won an Oscar for his depiction of ‘The Joker’, a character infamous in the comic book series for escaping custody, and hatching plans to break others free
Earlier in the video, Phoenix says that ‘the spread of coronavirus in prisons threatens the health and safety of all of us.
‘When you’re incarcerated there’s no such thing as social distancing and ensuring good hygiene is not an option.
‘Leaders must do everything possible to prevent incarcerated people and those who work in prisons from becoming ill and spreading the virus,’ he adds.
The ‘Release Aging People in Prison Campaign’ is an activist group that campaigns on behalf of elderly people likely to die in New York State prisons, who it says have been given ‘death-by-incarceration sentences.’
The group is now also campaigning for other prisoners during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly those who are vulnerable to the virus, such as the elderly or have underlying heath conditions.
Pheonix is not the only A-list celebrity whose message has been shared by the campaign group voicing their concerns about the New York State prison system and calling on the Governor to act.
Singer John Legend also recorded a message to Governor Cuomo to commute sentences or release those in New York’s prison system most at risk from the coronavirus
The group also shared a video from Singer John Legend who echoed Phoenix’s concerns, reading a similar pre-prepared message.
‘The spread of coronavirus in jails and prisons threatens the health and safety of New Yorkers,’ Legend says, before also calling for action from the state’s governor.
‘Governor Cuomo, it’s time for action. You can make communities across New York safer and healthier by reducing the prison population.
‘You can grant immediate clemency to people who are close to their release date, incarcerated for parole violations, or especially vulnerable because of their age or underlying health conditions. Governor Cuomo, release them now,’ he says.
According to NY Daily News, as of April 13, 139 prisoners and 581 prison staff had tested positive for the coronavirus in New York, more than any other state, highlighting that it is not just prisoners that are at risk in prisons, but the staff too.
Dr. Sarah Fortune, chief of immunology at the Harvard School of Public Health, said: ‘Social distancing is just as impossible in a jail or prison as it is on a cruise ship. In confined spaces, a single case of COVID-19 is able to spread throughout the population.
‘It is difficult to overstate the danger posed by such an outbreak. It would not only spread quickly throughout the detained population and the people working in the institution, it would also spread to nearby communities as well.’
Rikers Island, New York City’s largest prison, saw its first death from the coronavirus on April 5. The man who died was 53 and was reportedly being held on a technical parole violation
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has been widely praised for his coronavirus response, has mostly avoided the issue of prisoners during the coronvirus crisis
On April 5, a 53-year-old man, Michael Tyson, became the first person to die of the coronavirus on Rikers Island, New York City’s main jail. He was reportedly being held on a technical parole violation for missing a parole meeting.
Governor Cuomo, who has widely been praised for his response to the coronavirus in his state which has been the worst hit in the country, has avoided questioning around the release of prisoners during the crisis.
When asked about the issue last week, Cuomo said he had ‘nothing new’ to report, and has otherwise declined to comment.
New York is America’s worst hit state, with 203,348 confirmed cases of the coronavirus
New York has seen 10,842 deaths, the highest of any state in the country
New York is the biggest hot-spot for the coronavirus in the U.S. Of the country’s 615,183 cases, New York has seen 204,348, almost a third of the country’s total