Some inmates at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary are being released from the facility in light of the current COVID-19 situation.

The executive director of the John Howard Society says they’re working with HMP to have as many people released as possible, but they’re not just “opening up the doors.”

Cindy Murphy says risk assessments are underway to determine who is appropriate to release, with inmates who have less than 30 days left on their sentence being considered.

Better to release them now, says Murphy, and situate them safely in the community than wait until the situation becomes more dire and download them onto a shelter system that is already overburdened.