Inmates' Advocates Push For Prisoner Release As Wildfires Engulf California

As wildfires rage in California, advocates are pushing for Gov. Gavin Newsom to evacuate prisons in the line of the fires.

"It's disaster on top of disaster on top of disaster," Kirsten Roehler, whose 78-year-old father, Fred Roehler, is imprisoned in Lancaster, California, told The Guardian.

The 2020 wildfire season is especially difficult for multiple reasons, including record high temperatures and extreme weather and, of course, Covid-19.

Flames burned through more than 770,000 acres in the Golden State within just one week, the Washington Post reported Friday, leaving five people dead and air quality continually decreasing. Some of the state's prisons are located in areas under evacuation orders, including the California Medical Facility (CMF) and Solano State Prison, which are outside of Vacaville, California.

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