What?! New Jersey about to release another 850 inmates (Opinion)
By all indications, the extreme caution due to the pandemic is over. Kids are back in most schools without masks. Vaccine passports and mask mandates for business and government offices have been lifted.
This past Sunday, New Jersey let 852 inmates out of prison. It was part of a pandemic-related law that gives what they called "public health emergency credits" to certain inmates. This allows prisoners to take 122 days off their sentence for each month they served during the public health emergency.
During the "public health emergency" in 2020 when this legislation was passed and signed by the governor, businesses were shut down. Barbers and hairstylists couldn't make a living. Restaurants had to close their doors, some never made it back. Gym owners who dared to allow healthy people to maintain their heath were shut down and harassed.
The entire pandemic era was rife with bad decisions by our leaders and this one benefited people who made bad decisions in life. That's how they ended up in jail. Thankfully a few of your representatives in Trenton noticed this absurdity and are calling out the Murphy administration.
Assemblywomen Marilyn Piperno and Kim Eulner called on Gov. Phil Murphy to halt his administration’s release of 852 inmates Sunday.
Their efforts of course fell on deaf ears because Murphy doesn't care. He cares more about catering to the people who've made bad choices in life than those of us who play by the rules. It absolutely sends the wrong message, but Murphy doesn't care. He's on a mission to assuage his guilt for being an obnoxiously wealthy guy for producing nothing.
Who pays the price for this misguided altruism? We do.
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.
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