Fact check: Kamala sued the state of California to keep people incarcerated in the early pandemic

1. Summary of the results

The analyses reveal contradictory evidence regarding the original statement. The claim that Kamala Harris sued California to keep people incarcerated during the early pandemic is not directly supported by most sources examined.

Evidence against the claim:

• Multiple sources show Harris actually advocated for prisoner releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. She called for the release of low-risk inmates from federal prisons due to coronavirus concerns ^[1] and pushed the Federal Bureau of Prisons Director for information on pandemic preparedness while requesting prisoner releases ^[2].
• Several fact-checking sources found no evidence of Harris suing California to keep people incarcerated during the pandemic ^{[3] [4] [5]}.

Evidence supporting related behavior:

• One source confirms that Harris, as California's Attorney General, fought to keep nonviolent prisoners locked up despite a Supreme Court order to reduce the state's prison population. Her office filed motions that were "condemned by judges and legal experts as obstructionist and nonsensical" ^[6].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original statement conflates two different time periods and contexts:

Pre-pandemic prison policies (2010-2017):

• As California Attorney General, Harris actively resisted court orders to reduce prison populations, claiming the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to order the release of low-risk prisoners ^[6].
• This resistance occurred during her tenure as AG, years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pandemic-era advocacy ^[7]:

• During the actual early pandemic period, Harris reversed her previous stance and actively pushed for prisoner releases due to health concerns ^{[1] [2]}.

Political beneficiaries:

• Republican opponents and critics of Harris benefit from conflating her pre-pandemic record with pandemic-era actions to suggest consistency in keeping people incarcerated.
• Progressive advocates benefit from highlighting her pandemic-era calls for releases while downplaying her earlier resistance to prison population reduction.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The statement contains significant temporal confusion that appears to be misleading:

Factual inaccuracies:

• The claim specifically references "the early pandemic," but evidence shows Harris was advocating for releases during this period, not fighting to keep people incarcerated ^{[1] [2]}.
• No sources found evidence of Harris suing California during the pandemic to prevent releases ^{[3] [4] [5]}.

Misleading framing:

• The statement appears to conflate Harris's pre-pandemic record as Attorney General (when she did fight court-ordered releases) with her pandemic-era positions (when she advocated for releases) (p3_s1 vs. p2_s2, p2_s3).
• This temporal confusion creates a false narrative that misrepresents her actual positions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Missing nuance:

• The statement ignores Harris's evolution on criminal justice issues and her different roles (state AG vs. federal senator) during different time periods ^{[8] [9]}.