Two New Yorkers suspected of child sex crimes are asking to be released from prison to avoid potentially contracting the Chinese coronavirus while in detention.

According to the New York Post, 36-year-old Jonathan Deutsch and 26-year-old Frantz Petion are petitioning for their release from state prison by telling judges they are concerned about contracting the coronavirus.

In September 2018, Deutsch was charged in Brooklyn federal court on five counts of child sexual exploitation. Deutsch was a teacher at the Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences and allegedly solicited and received sexually explicit material from minors.

According to the Justice Department, Deutsch was in possession of sexually explicit images and videos of children that he had solicited through Facebook.

Meanwhile, in May 2018, Petion was accused of strangling and raping a ten-year-old girl at her home in Queens, New York City. The incident was reported by the victim, and Petion was sent to Riker’s Island on a $400,000 bail.

The petitions for release are the latest of accused and convicted criminals sitting in state and federal prisons who claim they are worried about contracting the coronavirus in their prison cells.

Last month, a group of 14 Republican and Democrat Senators — including Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — asked the Justice Department to free felons in federal prison deemed “nonviolent” and to stop admitting additional inmates in the midst of the pandemic.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.