AN URGENT PLEA FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE AS CORONAVIRUS SPREADS

March 18, 2020
The Appeal
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

A man with multiple medical conditions incarcerated on a technical violation urgently needs to be released, his attorney says.

Eleven months ago when Glenn Christie arrived in prison, he could walk. Now, he’s in a wheelchair.

On April 29, 2019, Christie was sentenced to one to two years in prison for violating his probation. He’s currently incarcerated in the Massachusetts Treatment Center, and will complete the minimum term of his sentence in about a month, according to his lawyer, David Rangaviz.

But with the exponential spread of COVID-19, Rangaviz says Christie, who suffers from several medical conditions, must be released immediately. As of March 17, 218 people in Massachusetts have been diagnosed with COVID-19, up from three almost two weeks ago.

Attorneys, formerly incarcerated people, and activists have demanded the release of vulnerable people and those charged or convicted of minor offenses. On March 12, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts sent a letter to the Department of Correction, Governor Charles Baker, the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office, and the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security urging the department of correction commissioner to “approve as many eligible people as possible for release on medical parole or temporary furlough for those who are particularly vulnerable such as pregnant people.”