We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
MIRACULOUS DOINGS AT THE BOP
Yesterday brought two miracles at the Bureau of Prisons, one physical and one legal.
Following a tour of FCI Terminal Island yesterday, Congresswoman Nanette Barragán, D-California, said the conditions inside the prison fall short of the federal government’s responsibility to protect inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Apparently Barragán’s complaints did not fall upon deaf ears. As of Monday night, FCI Terminal Island was reporting 693 inmates sick with coronavirus. As soon as Barragán completed her visit, Terminal Island’s sick inmate count fell to 150 inmates, an amazing 79%!
It’s a miracle! In a mere 24 hours, 543 inmates suddenly recovered from COVID-19! The Lord Himself could hardly have done better.
And some people wonder why no one believes the BOP’s numbers…
Meanwhile, on the other coast, a legal miracle: we learn that as least as far as the BOP is concerned, George Orwell was right – some animals really are more equal than others.
Three weeks after the BOP told hundreds of inmates who had been tapped for home confinement under the CARES Act that they would not be going home after all, because of a heretofore unannounced BOP policy that required an inmate to serve 50% of the full sentence prior to CARES Act approval, inmate Paul Manafort was sent to home confinement from FCI Loretto after serving less than a third of his sentence.
FCI Loretto, of course, is a hotbed of infection, with a total of zero COVID-19 cases so far.
According to news reports, “prison officials have wide latitude when considering these releases on a case-by-case basis.” “Discretion,” of course, means that some guys with 54 months yet to serve on a 71-month sentence can be sent home from a place that doesn’t have any coronavirus.
Is this a great country or what? If you wonder, check with all of those vulnerable inmates who were denied home confinement from places like Butner, Elkton, Terminal Island, Fort Worth and Lompoc because they had only served 45% of their sentences…
Long Beach, California, Post, Terminal Island is failing to protect inmates from COVID-19, congresswoman says after tour (May 13, 2020)
– Thomas L. Root