Listen to this articleUS Justice Department reversed its own legal opinion and said it would allow federal inmates released on home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic to stay out of prison. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the decision and it came after months of pressure on President Biden from criminal justice groups, lawmakers, and other advocates. US Department of Justice released inmates in the final days of the Trump administration and said they would have to return to prison at the end of the emergency period declared during the pandemic. At least 3,000 former inmates would have potentially been taken back to prison. The Office of Legal Counsel of DOJ said, “It didn’t lightly depart from our precedents, and we have given the views expressed in our prior opinion careful and respectful consideration”.
The office also said, “The Federal Bureau of Prisons preexisting authorities doesn’t require that prisoners in extended home confinement be returned en masse to correctional facilities when the emergency period ends”. The original releases were authorized under the authority of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that former President Donald Trump signed in March 2020. Then-Attorney General William Barr directed federal prisons to increase the use of home confinement and expedite the release of eligible high-risk inmates as coronavirus cases surged, particularly in detention settings. The priority was given to those at low- or medium-security prisons where the virus was spreading fastest. Garland issued a statement and said, “Thousands of people on home confinement have reconnected with their families, have found gainful employment, and have followed the rules”.
Garland added, “In light of today’s Office of Legal Counsel opinion, I have directed that the Department engage in a rulemaking process to ensure that the Department lives up to the letter and the spirit of the CARES Act. We will exercise our authority so that those who have made rehabilitative progress and complied with the conditions of home confinement, and who in the interests of justice should be given an opportunity to continue transitioning back to society are not unnecessarily returned to prison”. Point to be noted that at least 35,000 inmates were released as part of the effort to ease pandemic conditions as long as they met certain criteria, including they were not likely a danger to others. The BOP said that 2,830 of the 4,879 people who remain on home confinement were slated to return to prison and others have completed their sentences.
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