Hart-Dowhun said it’s feasible to release non-violent inmates for monitoring in the community. “It would certainly take additional effort,” she said. “But we do already have systems … to keep constant track of prisoners, how they’re doing, how they’re progressing and what sort of danger they pose to society.”

Tom Stamatakis, a Vancouver police constable and president of the Canadian Police Association, said a mass “decarceration” would come with a host of issues.

He said at it stands, the Canadian justice system typically tries to avoid incarcerating non-violent people in the first place. “If you’re going to start releasing people who are incarcerated, presumably there’s a reason why they’re being incarcerated,” he said.

Stamatakis added that police are already operating at or beyond capacity, and questioned whether parole and community corrections services would be able to monitor inmates with reduced staffing during a pandemic.