
One of the things the recent legislation will do is 'bailout' the states by giving over $1 trillion. I'm not against this at all but many states have spent billions on mass incarcerating us. Many states have failed to enact marijuana legalization, set up drug courts, or other progressive policies. Inadvertently this will fund the over policing of us at the state and local level.
I am also noticing that states are releasing prisoners claiming it is due to COVID-19 when it is the state or local government taking proactive measures to reduce the prison population prior to furloughing staff due to shortfalls in revenue. I believe Congress should do more comprehensive analysis of states and their spending to determine the right amount of funding to provide to ensure that the federal government is not financially supporting genocidal policies of mass incarceration at the state level.
If we limit or remove this provision, it will send a signal to states that if you blow your taxpayer money to sterilize your population you might need the money during an emergency. One of the things the Crime Bill that Joe Biden sponsored was provide grants to states to hire police to fight crime, equalizing the cost of this over policing nationally instead of locally.
By hiding the true reason that prisoners was released, this could tie back into the presidential race showing the effects of federal funding of state and local policing.