"California may release nearly 18K prisoners; organizations scramble to find them housing"

"State prison officials say as many as 17,600 California inmates may be released early due to the coronavirus, 70% more than previously estimated and a total that victims and police say includes dangerous criminals who should stay locked up. As of this week, there were about 102,000 prisoners in the prison system, which was 114% at capacity. The releases also are causing consternation as probation officers and community organizations scramble to provide housing, transportation and other services for inmates who may pose a public health risk because several hundred have been paroled while still contagious. 'It has just been a total madhouse, quite frankly, and we’re doing this in the midst of a pandemic,' said Karen McDaniel, the statewide transportation and services liaison between community groups and corrections officials. Among those released was Terebea Williams, 44, who served 19 years of an 84 years-to-life sentence for first-degree murder, carjacking and kidnapping. She was freed last week after being deemed at high medical risk for the virus. Williams’ victim, Kevin 'John' Ruska, picked her up to drive her to work in 1998 but the pair argued and Williams forced him into the trunk of his own car at gunpoint. She shot him when he tried to escape, then brought the wounded man more than 700 miles (1,126) kilometers) from Tacoma, Washington, to a motel in Davis, California. There she gagged him and tied him to a chair. He died from the infected wound. 'Why is an inmate’s rights more important than a victim’s?' said his outraged sister, Dena Love. Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, whose office prosecuted Williams, and the advocacy group Crime Victims Alliance complained that victims and prosecutors are given little notice and no opportunity to object to the releases."