Tag Archives: reentry

Good, Bad… But Not Indifferent – Update for May 27, 2021

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

EITHER GOOD OR BAD

Maybe you’ve noticed our good-and-bad theme this week. Here are some shorts:

thumbsup210526Good: The DC Circuit last week joined seven other circuits in holding that Guideline 1B1.13 does not limit compassionate release motions when those motions are brought by prisoners instead of the BOP.

The Circuit just joins seven other circuits since last September to so hold.  Only the 11th Circuit disagrees.

United States v. Long, Case No 20-3064, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 14682 (DC Cir., May 18, 2021)

thumbsdown210526Bad: The two Federal Bureau of Prisons Correctional Officerss who were supposed to be watching Jeffrey Epstein, later charged for lying to investigators and phonying up records to hide the fact they were cruising the Web instead, last week entered guilty pleas in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under deferred prosecution deals that will cost them 100 hours of community service but no prison time.

Forbes, Federal Prison Guards Admit To Filing False Records During Jeffrey Epstein’s Suicide (May 21, 2021)

thumbsup210526Good: Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota and John Cornyn (R-Texas), and House Reps. Karen Bass (D-California) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pennsylvania) introduced the One Stop Shop Community Reentry Program Act last week, a bill that would set up reentry centers to help coordinate access to job training, medical and mental health services, and financial counseling. The centers would also help individuals land jobs, gain job-skill training, obtain driver’s licenses, fill out college and student loan applications and receive financial counseling.

The bill passed the House in the last session of Congress, but never came to a vote in the Senate.

NPR, Congress Wants To Set Up One-Stop Shops To Help Ex-Inmates Stay Out Of Prison (May 20, 2021)

thumbsdown210526Bad:  Dr. Homer Venters, an epidemiologist tasked by a federal court with inspecting FCC Lompoc reported last week that the facility has “an alarmingly low vaccination acceptance rate among the inmate population,” due to prison staff neglecting to address inmates’ “very valid and predictable concerns” about the effects the vaccine might have on their underlying health conditions.

Rather than address inmate fears, Venters said, prison staff dismissively told the inmates to either “take the vaccine or sign a refusal form.” He reported to the Court that “many of the people who reported refusing the vaccine told me they were willing to take it but simply had questions about their own health status.”

“The approach of BOP Lompoc not only fails to engage with patients; it has a paradoxical effect of creating a pool of extremely high-risk unvaccinated patients,” he wrote. “In other detention settings I have worked in, a COVID-19 refusal by a high-risk patient would result in a prompt session with a physician or mid-level provider because the consequences of infection are so grave.”

Santa Barbara Independent, Doctor ‘Extremely Concerned’ About Low Vaccination Rate Among Lompoc Prisoners (May 20)

– Thomas L. Root

The Short Rocket – Update for March 26, 2021

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


SOME BRIEF ITEMS FROM LAST WEEK…

rocket190620Senators Want BOP COVID Deaths Investigated: Twenty-two Democrat senators asked the Justice Department inspector general on Thursday to review all of these deaths. “Although BOP investigates each case involving the death of an individual in their custody, these one-off reviews of each individual COVID-19-related death may not be sufficient to determine system-wide failures in care across the entire federal prison system,” they wrote. “A comprehensive review would not only provide a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding each individual loss of life but would also help policymakers establish whether the appropriate BOP policies were in place and being followed in each case, as well as whether new policies or practices should be implemented to reduce risk during the current pandemic and to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.”

Letter to Michael Horowitz from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others (March 18, 2021)

BOP Launches Newsletter: The BOP Reentry Services Division announced last week it has launched a national inmate newsletter “to enhance communication with the inmate population.” Entitled “Reentry Quarterly,” this publication includes a variety of articles focused on reentry resources for a diverse audience with a goal of providing something meaningful for every inmate. Topics have included post-release housing, inmate discipline, financial responsibility, Medicare, anger management, education, drug treatment, career/work, and parenting.

BOP, Bureau Introduces National Inmate Newsletter (March 18, 2021)

numberone210326Immigration Offenses Are Number 1 in 2020: Immigration offenses, followed by drug trafficking, were the most common crimes sentenced in federal courts last year, according to a US Sentencing Commission issued last week.

Reflecting the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, immigration violations alone accounted for 41% of the caseload, a slight uptick from 38% the previous year, the USSC said in its annual report.

The majority of those sentenced were Hispanic and just over 46% of the Hispanics were non-US citizens.

The Crime Report, Immigration Cases Took 41% of Federal Caseload in 2020 (March 16, 2021)

COVID News: The BOP vaccinated 2,481 inmates last week, bringing the total to 11.3% of the inmate population. During his testimony on March 18, BOP Director Michael Carvajal told the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies said that 100% of inmates will have been offered the vaccine by July 2021.

According to Carvajal, home confinement has been successful. Only 21 people sent home have been returned to prison, and only one of those for new criminal conduct. The others were sent back for violations of conditions.

House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, COVID Outbreaks and Management Challenges: Evaluating the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Pandemic Response and the Way Forward (March 18, 2021)

BOP, COVID-19 (March 19, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root