As the nation battles the coronavirus outbreak, some city and state officials are being criticized for the highly controversial decision to release criminals in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.
At least four states in the U.S. have started to release inmates from jails and prisons to protect vulnerable inmates with preexisting health conditions as cases of the virulent illness start to crop up in incarcerated populations.
“In Los Angeles, Cleveland [and] other cities, officials have begun releasing prisoners early,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson explained during the Wednesday night edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight.
“They want to do that anyway, of course, but now they can say it’s to contain the coronavirus,” Carlson added. “They’re not explaining how exactly. They’re just doing it.”
Cities like Los Angeles, however, explained their plans to release inmates by arguing that reducing prison crowding would in fact be conducive to “social distancing.”
“Notice there’s no compassion for the normal people huddled in their homes, sitting there as thousands of criminals are released onto the streets. Nobody cares about them,” Carlson continued, pointing out the apparent irony of releasing convicted criminals while law-abiding citizens are encouraged—and, in some cases, ordered—to stay confined to their homes.
Carlson then shifted focus to the alarming calls from some public officials to reduce arrests for all but the most serious crimes.
“In many cities, authorities are actually ordering police to stop protecting the public, to stop doing their jobs,” Carlson said. “In the city of Philadelphia, police have been ordered to avoid arrests even for significant crimes.”
“An internal [police] memo … states that crimes including theft, burglary, prostitution, stolen automobiles, vandalism, and certain economic crimes will no longer automatically result in detention,” public broadcaster WHYY reported earlier this week. “Police will also temporarily stop enforcing bench warrants to individuals who fail to show up for court.”
“A person could break into your home in Philadelphia and not be arrested. Imagine that. Instead, the police will issue a summons for a later court appearance and send them on their way with a prayer that they’ll show up.”
“All of this is exacerbating obviously what is already a very volatile situation,” Carlson stated. “Schools are closed, meaning that there are millions of teenagers with nothing to do. Most of them are good kids, obviously, but they are teenagers, and some will be troublemakers.”
“So how will they behave when they realize they can loot stores, steal cars or trash public places without the police responding to it? What do you think this is? You know what this is. It’s a recipe for chaos,” Carlson declared. “If the police announce they’re not going to protect you, they’re not going to do their jobs because the politicians controlling them won’t allow them, and then they’re releasing criminals back into your neighborhood … it means it falls on you to protect yourself and your family.”
The ability of individuals to defend themselves and their families, however, is also being severely affected by the growing pandemic of government power grabs.
“The mayor of Champaign, Illinois, for example, is claiming emergency powers that include the right to suspend gun sales,” Carlson revealed. “The mayor of New Orleans is claiming even more power. She claims if she wants to she can ban the transport of weapons too, effectively abolishing concealed carry.”
“Obviously, it’s tyranny, but it’s deeper than that. So the government fails to protect you, it makes your life more dangerous and then it tries to prevent you from protecting yourself. What is that!?”
Watch the segment below:
This article was first published on the Activist Mommy website, and is republished with permission. You may not use, copy, distribute, publish, syndicate, sub-license and transmit the whole or any part of such material in any manner and in any format and/or media without the permission of the original publishers.
