It's Brian Lehrer, and this is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Tuesday, March 24th.

And now the danger of the coronavirus poses to people who are incarcerated.

This issue is starting to blow up nationwide. Correction facilities

throughout the U.S. are slowly releasing inmates to avoid a potential public health catastrophe.

Correctional workers and inmates around the nation are testing positive for the virus.

Here in New York, the city has begun to release some prisoners, so of other states like

California, Ohio, and New Jersey. New Jersey plans to release up to 1,000 people today. I'm joined by

two advocates close to this issue who are calling for the immediate release of more people detained

on Rikers Island. Robert Cohen is a medical doctor, a corrections health expert,

and New York City Board of Corrections Commissioner, and Jose Saltona is the director of the

release aging people in prison campaign. Robert and Jose, thank you so much for coming on today.

Thank you. And thank you for having us.

Can you each start with your background a little bit and explain your connection to this issue?

Jose, you want to?

Sure.

I'm formally incarcerated.

I was released a little over two years, after 38 years of incarceration.

And this virus is going to kill some of the men that I left behind that should have been walking out with me,

but instead they languish for more years in incarceration when they should.

They should be with their families as I am enjoying life of my family.

Also, people you're saying, who had become aged and weren't a threat and may have been

...