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Pardon and Punishment – Update for February 19, 2026

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

JUSTICE, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION STYLE

Pardons for the Right People:    President Trump last Thursday pardoned five former professional football players — including Super Bowl champions, a Hall of Famer and a Heisman Trophy winner — for crimes ranging from perjury to drug trafficking.

footThe pardons of ex-NFL players Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon were announced by White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson.

“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” Johnson wrote on the social media site X, as she thanked Trump for his “continued commitment to second chances.”

Of course, for the thousands of people serving sentences for drug and violent crimes who do not happen to have been NFL players, the action – which excuses prior criminal conduct because of the athletic prowess of the recipient – only underscores the fact that the price of admission to Trump clemency continues to be fame, fortune, or political affinity with the President.

Nevertheless, writing in his Sentencing Law and Policy blog, Ohio State law professor Doug Berman was a little puzzled by the announcement: “Ever the showman and the sports fan, I am a bit surprised that Prez Trump did not announce these pardons himself, and I am even more surprised that he did not seek to get attention by issuing these pardons in the week leading up to the Super Bowl rather than during the week after when the spotlight has turned away from football.”

Punishment for the Wrong People:      One of Trump’s first executive actions a year ago was to order that 37 death row inmates whose sentences President Biden had previously been commuted to life imprisonment without chance for release be “imprisoned in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes and the threats they pose.”

US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly issued a preliminary injunction against a plan to transfer the 37 to ADX Florence.  The judge noted that BOP policy allows assignment to the supermax in only two circumstances: when ”placement in other correctional facilities creates a risk to institutional security and good order or poses a risk to the safety of staff, inmates, others, or to public safety” or when an inmate’s status is such that he “may not be safely housed in the general population of another institution.”

The judge said public statements by Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi had guaranteed that the men would be transferred to the supermax facility because Trump wanted it, regardless of the BOP designation standards.

“It is likely that the [administrative review ]process provided to Plaintiffs was an empty exercise to approve an outcome that was decided before it even began,” Judge Kelly wrote.  He said Bondi and other officials “made it clear” to BOP that the inmates “had to be sent to ADX Florence to punish them, no matter what result the originally BOP process might have yielded.”

Forgiveness for Favorites:   The Dept of Justice last week moved to dismiss criminal contempt of Congress charges against Trump acolyte Steve Bannon, who served four months in the BOP for the conviction.

Although Bannon has done his time, his petition for certiorari is pending before the Supreme Court. The case relates to Bannon’s refusal to testify before the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. He was convicted in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to appear for a deposition and declining to produce documents requested by the committee.

The DOJ wrote in its motion to dismiss the case, that “[t]he government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice.”

The New York Times, Trump Pardons Klecko, Jamal Lewis and Other Former N.F.L. Players (February 12, 2026)

Politico, Judge halts transfer of former federal death inmates to ‘supermax’ prison (February 11, 2026)

Memorandum Opinion, Taylor v. Trump, Case No 25-cv-3742 (DDC, February 11, 2026)

Associated Press, Trump pardons five former NFL players for crimes ranging from perjury to drug trafficking (February 13, 2026)

Brief for the United States, Bannon v United States, Case No. 25-453 (Supreme Court, filed February 9, 2026).

~ Thomas L. Root

Jailer Trump Sends Former Death Row Prisones to Supermax – Update for October 17, 2025

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

PRESIDENT TRUMP MAKES BOP DESIGNATION DECISIONS

Among the last clemencies made by President Biden before leaving office were his commuting the sentences of 37 BOP death row inmates to life. Hours later, newly installed President Trump ordered that the life sentences of these men be made into what the Wall Street Journal called “a living hell.”

Based on the order Trump had Attorney General Pam Bondi issue, the BOP officials canceled plans to transfer most of the inmates to mainline prisons. Instead, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III executed Bondi’s order, directing that all but a few prisoners requiring medical facilities be designated to ADMAX Florence, which the Wall Street Journal called “the harshest institution in the federal system.”

The Journal said that Aaron Reitz, then an assistant attorney general, led a roundtable with the families and said he was disappointed that the cells “have windows to see daylight.” He suggested that prison food was too good for these men. “I’ve got no problem with gruel.” he said. “If made right, it’s a nutritious all-in-one meal.” Later in an interview, Reitz said, “If you’re not going to be killed lawfully at the hands of the state, well, your prison sentence is going to be hard as hell.” 

The Journal reported that “while the president’s authority to grant clemency for federal crimes is virtually unfettered, the power to impose vengeance via prison assignments isn’t clear.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Trump wanted to “ensure that they spend the remainder of their lives in conditions consistent with the egregious crimes they committed.” David Fathi, director of the National Prison Project at the ACLU, which represents 21 of the inmates, said that none of the prisoners qualified for ADX placement under the BOP’s Program Statement 5100.08, Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification Manual. ‘None of our plaintiffs were designated for ADX,” he said. “Under Attorney General Bondi, all of our plaintiffs have been slated for ADX, not because of a security risk but to inflict maximum suffering.”

“People should be very concerned about the president and attorney general’s disregard for the law in this case,” Fathi said. “Today, it may be people who are very unpopular. Tomorrow, it could be anybody.”

Wall Street Journal, Biden Spared 37 Killers From Execution. Trump Ordered Up a Lifetime of Torment (October 11, 2025)

Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 5100.08 CN-2, Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification Manual (March 5, 2025)

~ Thomas L. Root

That’s Crazy! DOJ Inspector General Slams BOP Treatment of Mentally Ill Inmates – Update for July 20, 2017

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

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WAR IS PEACE

orwell170721Remember George Orwell’s dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty Four? The protagonist, Winston Smith worked for the Ministry of Truth, one task of which was to destroy words. The government championed the slogan, War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.

Now try this one on for size, from a Dept. of Justice Inspector General’s report on the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) use of restrictive housing for mentally-ill inmates:

Although the BOP states that it does not practice solitary confinement, or even recognize the term, we found inmates, including those with mental illness, who were housed in single-cell confinement for long periods of time, isolated from other inmates and with limited human contact. For example, at the ADX, we observed an RHU that held two inmates, each in their own cell, isolated from other inmates. The inmates did not engage in recreation with each other or with other inmates and were confined to their cells for over 22 hours a day. Also, in five SHUs, we observed single-celled inmates, many with serious mental illness. One inmate, who we were told was denied ADX placement for mental health reasons, had been single-celled for about 4 years.

So there’s no solitary confinement, because we say so. Unsurprisingly, because the BOP denies solitary confinement exists, it does not properly track and limit the length of time prisoners spend in restrictive housing. At the same time, the DOJ report found, the BOP’s inadequate documentation of inmates’ mental illness results in inappropriate mental health treatment or no treatment at all.

The report highlighted issues with a number of BOP facilities for their mistreatment of mentally ill inmates, but singled out the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for particular opprobrium. Lewisburg is the subject of a class action lawsuit brought several months ago over treatment of mentally ill prisoners.

BOPtherapy170721The report said the BOP’s poor documentation of mental health diagnoses leaves many cases of mental illness underreported. According to an OIG study done in 2011 and 2012, 14% of state and federal prisoners reported experiencing serious psychological distress; 37% have been told by a mental health professional they had a mental disorder. A 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics report found about 45% percent of federal inmates showed symptoms or a recent history of mental illness. Despite that, the Inspector General reports, only 3% of BOP inmates were being treated regularly for mental illness. One BOP facility’s deputy chief psychologist estimated half of the inmates there had Antisocial Personality Disorder. The official BOP numbers say only 3.3% of the inmate population was documented for this order.

Obviously, if the BOP doesn’t know who has a problem, it cannot very well treat it.

BOP does not limit how long an inmate can be held in restrictive housing, defined as SHUs (Special Housing Units, located at 119 BOP facilities), the one SMU still operating at USP Lewisburg, and of course, the ADX in Florence. In May 2014, the BOP adopted a new mental health policy to improve the treatment of inmates with mental illness, including those being held in RHUs. The BOP promptly experienced a 30% reduction in the number of inmates receiving regular mental health treatment. The policy, intended to increase the number of inmates diagnosed as needing mental health treatment, failed due to lack of staffing and resources, according to the report.

BOP says it has taken steps to improve conditions for mentally ill inmates, such as diverting inmates with serious mental illness from traditional RHUs to residential mental health treatment programs. However, the report found many issues remain with the BOP system, including dire staffing shortages and lack of metrics to determine program effectiveness.

solitary170721The lead plaintiff in McCreary v. Federal Bureau of Prisons is a Lewisburg inmate who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, mood disorder, psycho-social, and environmental problems, ADHD, and antisocial personality disorder. He attempted suicide on multiple occasions and is now being held in a single cell at Lewisburg. The lawsuit alleged he has not left his cell since May 16 and has to shout through his cell door for his weekly, two-minute mental health “therapy” sessions.

Lucky for him there’s no solitary confinement in the BOP.

International Business Times, Federal Prisoners Lack Proper Mental Illness Treatment Amid Lack of Prison Staff, Investigators Say (July 13, 2017)

Lawstreet.com, DOJ Report Criticizes Prisons’ Treatment of Mentally Ill Inmates (July 18, 2017)

Dept. of Justice Office of Inspector General, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Use of Restrictive Housing for Inmates with Mental Illness (July 12, 2017)

– Thomas L. Root

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