THROW-BACK THURSDAY: PRESERVING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS DURING A NATIONAL CRISIS 

ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS

SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
Thank you for continuing to work for the health and safety of all of US. Today I’m calling to ask you to oppose AG Barr’s request to indefinitely imprison anyone he chooses. Forfeiting our Constitutional rights and increasing already overcrowded prison populations  don’t address the pandemic and would only worsen its impact. Please also work for testing every prisoner released into their communities and for access to social distancing and protective hygiene for those left inside. 

ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS

Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here. 

SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
For Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Scharder: 
Thank you for continuing to work for the health and safety of all of US. Today I’m calling to ask you to oppose AG Barr’s request to indefinitely imprison anyone he chooses. Forfeiting our Constitutional rights and increasing already overcrowded prison populations don’t address the pandemic and would only worsen its impact. Please also work for testing every prisoner released into their communities and for access to social distancing and protective hygiene for those left inside. 
For Walden: 
I’m calling to ask you to oppose AG Barr’s request to indefinitely imprison anyone he chooses. Forfeiting our Constitutional rights and increasing already overcrowded prison populations don’t address the pandemic and will only worsen its impact. Please also work for testing every prisoner released into their communities and for access to social distancing and protective hygiene for those left inside. 

BACKGROUND:

We progressives advocate for the civil rights and humane treatment of all prisoners. We deplore the disproportionate number of poor people and people of color in our prisons. We promote rehabilitative criminal justice and its better outcomes. 
COVID-19 presents grave threats to US prisoners. Social distancing is impossible, while adequate hygiene and medical care don’t nonexist. Prisoners’ Constitutional rights have been compromised as courts and attorneys close or work remotely. The rights to counsel, to appear before a judge and be charged with a crime upon arrest, to request release pending trial, and to a jury trial have been suspended. 
AG Barr wants to compound these problems. He wants Congress to grant him the right to arrest anyone he chooses without charges and imprison them indefinitely. This would allow Trump to use prisons for retribution and to deny voting rights.  
States and municipalities are taking action to address the risks of COVID-19 to prisoners. Advocacy groups want children, nonviolent prisoners, and those with compromised health released. Adequate testing for everyone discharged into the community, more sanitary conditions for those left inside, and blocking Barr’s attempts to further undermine Constitutional rights are mandatory. 

SOURCES: 

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/doj-suspend-constitutional-rights-coronavirus-970935/ 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2020/03/22/covid-19-criminal-enforcement-and-the-imperiled-fate-of-the-statute-of-limitations/#4c8bb48f604c 
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/488394-covid-19-incarceration-and-our-public-health 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/disaster-waiting-to-happen-thousands-of-inmates-released-as-jails-face-coronavirus-threat/2020/03/24/761c2d84-6b8c-11ea-b313-df458622c2cc_story.html 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/23/coronavirus-rikers-island-releases/ 
https://time.com/5808020/rikers-island-coronavirus/ 
https://www.koin.com/news/health/coronavirus/oregons-justice-system-adjusts-for-covid-19-response/ 
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/11/jails-court-officials-look-to-minimize-impact-of-covid-19-on-criminal-justice-system/ 
https://whyy.org/articles/covid-19-criminal-justice-groups-want-philly-juvenile-detention-centers-to-release-children/