BREAKING: Texas Gov. Abbott To Sign Executive Order Preventing Release of Criminals Convicted of Violent Crime

At a press conference over the weekend, Republican Gov. Abbott detailed to Texans what they could expect in the coming days and weeks for coronavirus procedures.

“In an executive order Sunday, Abbott barred inmates accused or previously convicted of violent crimes from being released from jails without paying bail,” The Texas Tribune reported.

Among the details given during the press conference, the Governor of Texas has stated that he will sign an executive order preventing the release of dangerous criminals from Texas jails.

This is in stark contrast to Democratic Governors of other states that have been releasing prisoners during this crisis. States like Pennsylvania and New Jersey have already released prisoners or have plans to release prisoners.

The idea is that jails can be hotspots for viruses to spread and to lessen the population in these prisons might lower the chance of overwhelming the prison healthcare symptoms.

Our question is: but at what cost?

According to the report by Al Jazeera, Texas is among the states set to release prisoners, but according to Gov. Abbott’s press conference, this will not be happening.

“The move is being made to protect the health of inmates and limit the spread of the COVID-19 disease, state Attorney General Gurbir Singh Grewal said.

“Jails can be incubators for disease so we have to take bold and drastic steps,” Grewal said.
People released will be subject to the state’s stay-at-home order and will serve their sentence once the health crisis is over, Grewal said.
Thousands of inmates in at least 16 states are being released in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in crowded jails and prisons. California, New York, Ohio and Texas are among the states where officials are sending low-level offenders and elderly or sickly inmates home early.”

The safety issue alone should be raising flags, but more importantly, the health risk this could cause on law-abiding citizens.

Abbott has wisely signed an executive order stating:

“In addition to the executive orders concerning the enhanced restrictions on travel to Texas from other states, there is another executive order that I am announcing today. It is an executive order to make sure that I as Governor and that we as a STate of Texas that we are doing all that we can during this time of disaster to keep this state as safe as possible. So I am issuing an executive order to stop the release of dangerous felons from prison and jails in Texas.”

Abbott went on to say that after hearing from advocates and concerned citizens, he knows that releasing dangerous criminals increases safety risks.

It will also make it harder for safety officials to handle the ongoing health crisis if they must address a safety crisis as well.

He says they want to reduce coronavirus in jails and prison for both the safety of the prisoners and the prison personnel, but releasing the criminals does not help this. And now his executive order will force dangerous criminals to stay in jail.