These releases affect primarily inmates of Maine's county jails, though some inmates from Maine prisons and juvenile detention centers are also being released.

According to the Kennebec Journal, pressure has been mounting on Maine officials to begin thinning out the jail and prison population to help prevent COVID-19 from running rampant in our facilities.

The Maine department of Corrections has begun the release of Maine inmates that are considered non-violent, or that have little time remaining on their sentence. The goal is to limit jail and prison population so if a case of coronavirus springs up in a facility, it will be easier to manage and isolate the infected.

States all across the country are racing to clear thousands of inmates out of the prison system in anticipation of the pandemic growing worse in the coming weeks.

Just this weekend the White House extended it's social distancing guidelines, originally set for 15 days, to April 30th.