With the onset of COVID-19, our prisons in our state face unique and incredibly difficult challenges for public health. The virus is far likelier to spread within their confines, drastically raising the prospect of a pandemic within the prison system. This campaign is advocating for the conditional release of those in prison because of a cash bail they cannot afford, especially if they are at a high risk for COVID-19.

 

The campaign is called Let Our People Go as a reference to the famous line Moses utters to the Pharaoh of Egypt about the Israelite people who had been toiling in slavery under his rule. The Passover story commemorates the Israelites’ struggle to be free from slavery, and of course celebrates their eventual victory.