[Wilhelm Tell]

And when crime skyrockets the leftists will blame “the availability of guns.”

[T-Bone Texan]

The big picture: The prison guard union is powerful. They would not let this happen without howls of protest, because it threatens their power/income/influence. Why are there no howls of protest? Because those empty cells will be filled very quickly, with political prisoners - Read: you and me. The fix is in. By the way, this is a classic example of anarcho-tyranny: the selective enforcement of some laws while ignoring others, so as to keep the populace terrorized by street crime while at the same time giving common criminals a pass. The elites actually WANT crime to be at a certain level. It serves their agenda.