The madness to change the American justice system continues.

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union said it’s launching a multiyear effort to win the release of tens of thousands of prisoners by lobbying governors to grant mass clemency as a remedy to “systemic injustice.”

According to the group, The Redemption Campaign,” aims to “liberate” 50,000 prisoners, including “older incarcerated people,” “people convicted of drug distribution and possession offenses,” “people incarcerated for technical probation or parole violations.”

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said people are rising up to demand change and “calling for an end to the systemic racism that has defined so much of the American experience, particularly in the criminal legal system.”

The effects from lowering the jail population in liberal states like New York and California have not been good. In New York, law enforcement leaders argue that the hundreds of prisoners released early from Rikers Island due to COVID-19 concerns are being enabled to reoffend again without consequences. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said the fact that his department continues to see people get arrested over and over and then allowed right back on the streets defies common sense.

Michael LiPetri, chief of Crime Control Strategies for the NYPD, said he doesn’t object to releasing older defendants or those with underlying medical conditions, but that the consequences of the larger-scale release of prisoners are now showing up. The new arrest data shows that about 250 re-offenders have been arrested 450 times so far during the pandemic.

In early April, the California Judicial Council established a new policy setting bail at zero for most misdemeanor and low-level felonies to keep the jail population lower during the coronavirus crisis. The move brought complaints from police agencies that suspects committing crimes, getting arrested and released were then committing additional crimes … some on the very same day.

In Glendora, one man was arrested and released without bail three times in the same day for trying to steal cars and other property. Because of the state policy, police said they had no choice but to keep releasing him after each arrest.

Another violent case involved Ibrahim E. Bouaichi, who was indicted last year on charges that included rape, sodomy, strangulation and abduction. Jailed without bond in Alexandria, Virginia, his rape accuser, Karla Dominguez, testified about the crime against her last December.

Seven months later, Bouaichi, who was back on the street, returned to Alexandria and shot and killed Dominguez outside her apartment.

The battle over releasing prisoners is a hot-button issue in presidential politics.

Democratic liberal icon Sen. Bernie Sanders tried to juice up his last failing presidential campaign by stating that felons, including Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, should have the right to vote.

Presidential hopeful Joe Biden and other Democrats claim that President Trump symbolizes and perpetuates the type of systemic racism targeted by the ACLU.

Trump supporters, meanwhile, have attacked Biden’s role in the passage and enactment of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which critics argue escalated the war on drugs and devastated Black communities.

Trump credits the First Step Act, which was passed on his watch, for making dramatic reforms to sentencing and given criminals a second chance.

California Police Chiefs Association President Eric Nuñez said he understands the urgency of reducing the prison population but like many Americans, is alarmed by the release of some violent criminals “without a consideration for the larger impact on public safety.” He said the chiefs want to work with prison officials on improving the decision-making process.

His common-sense approach is much more sane than the liberal approach of putting repeat offenders back on the street who are free to roam thanks to their “get out of jail free” card.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com