Washington, December 22 (BNA): The US Department of Justice announced, on Tuesday, that it will not force federal prisoners who have been repatriated due to the Corona virus pandemic, to return to prison once the state of emergency is lifted.
The decision marks a significant reversal from the ministry’s Office of Legal Counsel, which previously issued an opinion saying the Bureau of Prisons had no legal authority to keep inmates at home once the pandemic emergency subsided, according to Reuters.
It also represents a victory for criminal justice advocacy groups that have put pressure on the department and White House to take steps to ensure that law-abiding inmates are not forced back to prison.
“Thousands of people confined to their homes have reconnected with their families, found gainful employment, and followed the rules,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Garland met several inmates at the home to hear about their experiences.
In 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act, which expanded the Department of Justice’s authority to release low-level inmates into their homes during the pandemic to ease overcrowding and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
But in January of this year, the department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a controversial opinion that found that once the state of emergency is lifted, the Federal Bureau of Prisons should “call inmates home to correctional institutions” if they are not eligible to stay. at home.
Dozens of advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Justice Action Network, and FAMM — a group that opposes mandatory minimum sentences — have called on the Department of Justice to overturn this view.
They also pressured the White House to use its clemency powers to ease the sentences of those who were sent home.
From March 2020 until December 6 this year, more than 35,000 inmates have been repatriated under all of BOP’s various legal powers.
As of December 6, the Department of Justice said 4,879 inmates were in extended home confinement under the authority of the CARES Act, and that more than 2,800 would have returned to prison once the state of emergency was lifted if the previous legal opinion remained in effect.
“This is great news for thousands of people and their families ahead of the holiday,” FAMM President Kevin Ring said in a statement.
“There is no way the people under the CARES Act in home confinement should have been sent back to prison, and we are very grateful to the Biden administration for fixing this error.”
Garland said Tuesday that he also plans to direct the BOP to launch a rule-making process that will ensure inmates in home confinement “will be given a chance to continue returning to society” and not be “returned to prison unnecessarily.”
While Tuesday’s announcement gives BOP discretion to keep prisoners at home, it does not guarantee that everyone sent home will be eligible to stay there.
Those who violate the terms and conditions of the BOP may lose their home stay privileges.
However, the majority of prisoners repatriated since 2020 complied with the rules.
FKN