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Even in a public health emergency, we must keep a watchful eye on the government to ensure that any COVID-19 response is grounded in science and accepted public health policy, and does not  infringe on our civil rights, including the right to privacy.

We are asking our community leaders and law enforcement to recognize, however, that now is the time to rethink how our jails and prisons are not effective ways to address the social and community ills of poverty and drug use.

These laws codify meaningful state civil rights protections for the first time for Virginians and make Virginia the first state in the south to extend state nondiscrimination laws to all members of the LGBTQ community.

On July 1, hundreds of new laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly earlier this year went into effect. The Virginia legislature made great strides and greenlit a handful of important reforms that had been rejected time and time again in the past. Rather than attacking people’s rights and freedoms, lawmakers passed legislation that made it easier for people to vote, expanded abortion access, protected LGBTQ+ people from discrimination and started chipping away at the countless injustices in our criminal legal system.

The ACLU of Virginia joined a federal class action lawsuit as co-counsel with Charlottesville attorney Elliott Harding on behalf of 27 people who are incarcerated in Virginia prisons. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, April 8 against Gov. Ralph Northam, Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran and other state officials. It alleges that Virginia is violating the U.S. Constitution by failing to decarcerate overcrowded facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and asks that the Commonwealth be ordered to immediately decrease the number of people in custody, implement policies for social distancing, and require staff members to wear personal protection equipment.