More than a dozen legal and advocacy organizations are urging the Polis Administration to pursue “substantial depopulation” of prisons before they become the epicenter of another COVID-19 outbreak.

“Incarcerated people who are infected by the virus are much more likely to become seriously ill or die than individuals living free in the community,” reads the letter dated May 8. “Much like nursing home residents, incarcerated people are disproportionately likely to have serious medical conditions that make them vulnerable to catching, spreading and dying from the virus.”

The ACLU of Colorado, the Working Families Party and the Lawyers’ Civil Rights Coalition were among the signatories to the letter. The Colorado Department of Corrections has released approximately 1,200 inmates in the last month, with over 18,400 remaining. The organizations would like the governor to commute the sentences of certain prisoners aged 55 or older who do not pose a clear risk to the community and have underlying health conditions.

The letter also asks for a moratorium on new prisoner admissions for lower level non-violent crime and hastened parole for people who are near their eligibility or release dates. Finally, the organizations encouraged routine testing at all facilities, considering that the Sterling Correctional Facility has 277 cases of COVID-19, second in Colorado only to the JBS USA meat plant in the number of deaths linked to a facility.

“Only substantial depopulation that allows for social distancing has any real chance of mitigating the massive spread of the virus through Colorado’s prisons,” they wrote.