Release many behind bars to slow virus’ spread

On Saturday, the first federal inmate tested positive for coronavirus in a Brooklyn, New York, facility. Prison staff in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and Washington state have tested positive for the virus, forcing inmate quarantines. The media has dramatized the risk to those caught on a cruise ship or in a nursing home where the virus begins to spread. But surely those most at risk are the 2.2 million Americans locked up on any one day in prisons and jails across the country.

“We’re all headed for some dire consequences,”...