New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at the USTA Indoor Training Center where a temporary hospital will be built, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Who could have foreseen this?

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is speaking out about criminals he let out of jail committing more crimes. He called it “unconscionable” that these good hearted felons would misuse the mercy that was shown to them.

Inmates committing crimes after coronavirus release 'unconscionable': De Blasio https://t.co/KrbfBVvn9e pic.twitter.com/dSfjgItUO6

— New York Post (@nypost) April 20, 2020

It is “unconscionable” that Rikers Island inmates who were released due to coronavirus concerns are committing new crimes, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

“I think it’s unconscionable just on a human level that folks were shown mercy and this is what some of them have done,” the mayor said during his morning briefing Monday, which came on the heels of a Post report outlining the issue.

On the whole “human level” topic, does the mayor not realize that criminals often lack empathy? That’s not to say there aren’t some in jail who made a mistake, are genuinely remorseful, and just want to live out their lives peacefully when they get out, but it’s certainly pretty stupid to just release people en mass and expect everyone to react that way.

The right answer here was not to release 1400 inmates from city jails. It was to quarantine those who are sick and move the others to different locations. Perhaps you have a very limited release program for those that have met very strict, specific guidelines.

But by simply releasing previously incarcerated criminals early, the city government was essentially shoving the problem onto its citizens. How many that were released were asymptomatic and caused further spread? It’s impossible to know at this point, but certainly not improbable that it happened.

It’s almost like liberals, or communists in the case of Bill de Blasio, are gluttons for punishment. Are they really incapable of processing the unintended consequences of their policies, or do they just not care? Perhaps it’s some of both.