18 U.S.C. et al., Is Downsizing Prisons Dangerous? id. 66. See Pursuant to the Act, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was ordered to prioritize the use of home confinement as a tool for combatting the risks of COVID-19 for vulnerable inmates. [25] As explained above, the proposed rule will also have operational, penological, and health benefits. Released prisoners cite family support as the most important factor in helping them stay out of prison. Reaffirm condemnation of torture as a human rights violation and call for an end to prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture. Once the Director has lengthened a prisoner's amount of time in home confinement under the CARES Act and placed the prisoner in home confinement, no further action under the CARES Act is needed. Please submit electronic comments through the 19. v. The Baker Act prohibited the indiscriminate admission of persons to state Home confinement is an alternative to jail or prison. It quickly became one of the worst hit federal prisons in the country with a massive COVID-19 outbreak. See, e.g., On March 26, 2020, the Attorney General issued a memorandum instructing the Director to prioritize use of home confinement, where authorized, to protect the health and safety of inmates and Bureau staff by minimizing the risk of COVID-19 spread in Bureau facilities, while continuing to keep communities safe. It ranks as one of the most successful programs implemented by the BOP. [6] This section differs from section 12003(b)(2) in important ways. Today, the Department of Justice announced that a new rule has been submitted to the Federal Register implementing the Time Credits program required by the First Step Act for persons incarcerated in federal facilities who committed nonviolent offenses. codified in relevant part at Memorandum for the BOP Director from the Attorney General, [61] See Home-Confinement, Rep. No. [40] The Department's interpretation is also consistent with congressional action demonstrating an interest in increasing the Bureau's use of home confinement. __, at *11-12. These efforts were undertaken over years of bipartisan negotiations and garnered broad support across the political spectrum, beginning with the Second Chance Act of 2007 and This table of contents is a navigational tool, processed from the prisoner may be placed in home confinement. FSA sec. The CARES Act allowed for the compassionate release of prisoners who had risk factors for the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and who pose a lower risk of flight. 33. Indeed, of the nearly 5,000 inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, as of January 8, 2022, only 322 had been returned to secure custody for any reason, and only eight for committing a new crime. See id. Id. documents in the last year, 83 publication in the future. documents in the last year, 1476 Second, the FSA reauthorized and expanded the pilot program to place eligible elderly offenders in home confinement by lowering the age requirement from 65 to 60 years old, reducing the amount of the sentence imposed an inmate must have served to qualify for the program, and allowing it to be applied to eligible terminally ill inmates regardless of age. 301. As the extremely low percentage of inmates placed on CARES Act home confinement returned to secure custody shows, the Bureau can effectively manage public safety concerns associated with the low-risk inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act for longer periods of time. Copenhaver, Since March 2020, following the Attorney General's directive, the Bureau has significantly increased the number of inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act and other preexisting authorities. Start Printed Page 36790 To protect those most vulnerable to covid-19 during the pandemic, the Cares Act allowed the Justice Department to order the release of people in federal prisons and place them on home confinement . But the prisoners who were released under the . For example, although the authority to provide loans under the CARES Act's Paycheck Protection Program was limited, the loans granted pursuant to that authority will mature over time.[39]. [66] As an initial matter, the extended home confinement program is time-limited: the Director's authority to place inmates on extended home confinement lapses after the expiration of the covered emergency period. The Bureau of Prisons (Bureau or BOP) modifies regulations on Good Conduct Time (GCT) credit to conform with legislative changes under the First Step Act (FSA). for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes) in their original dispensed packaging with instruction labels. About the Federal Register The statute provides that an inmate placed in home confinement under this incentive program shall remain in home confinement until the prisoner has served not less than 85 percent of the prisoner's imposed term of imprisonment, and that the Bureau should provide progressively less restrictive conditions on inmates who demonstrate continued compliance with the conditions of prerelease custody.[51]. sec. The State of NJ site may contain optional links, information, services and/or content from other websites operated by third parties that are provided as a convenience, such as Google Translate. This proposed rule is not a major rule as defined by the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 516. The Department has determined that there is no countervailing risk to the public safety that outweighs the benefits of this rulemaking. It is not an official legal edition of the Federal Rather than being kept behind bars, people spend the time confined in their . 3624(c)(2) as the Director deems appropriate. That guidance also instructed that pregnant inmates should be considered for placement in a community program, to include home confinement. 4001 and 28 U.S.C. This PDF is at sec. CARES Act Home Confinement & the OLC Memo. Federal Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 7320.01, CN-2, Home Confinement (updated Dec. 15, 2017), [5] sec. 3621(b) (providing that [t]he Bureau of Prisons shall designate the place of the prisoner's imprisonment, taking into account factors such as facility resources; the offense committed; the inmate's history and characteristics; recommendations of the sentencing court; and any pertinent policy of the United States Sentencing Commission). available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/1593/actions?r=5&s=5 SCA, Public Law 110-199, sec. This document has been published in the Federal Register. documents in the last year, 667 3(b), 122 Stat. That authority under the CARES Act exists during the period for which there is a declaration of national emergency with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and for 30 days after the termination of that declaration, provided that the Attorney General has made a finding that the emergency conditions materially affect the functioning of the Bureau of Prisons. . available at https://www.bop.gov/foia/docs/Home%20Confinement%20memo_2021_04_13.pdf. These include increasing the Bureau's ability to control inmate populations in BOP facilities and in the community, allowing it to be responsive to changed circumstances; empowering the Bureau to make individualized assessments as to whether inmates placed in home confinement should remain in home confinement after the end of the covered emergency period, taking into account, for example, penological goals and the benefits associated with an inmate establishing family connections and finding employment opportunities in the community; and allowing the Bureau to weigh the ongoing risk of new COVID-19 outbreaks in BOP facilities against the benefit of returning any inmate to secure custody. 12003(b)(2), 134 Stat. [50] 24. 12003(b)(2), 134 Stat. Washington, DC (Aug. 19, 2021) - FAMM, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC) launched the "CARES Act Home Confinement Clearinghouse" today in an effort to prevent up to 4,000 people on CARES Act home confinement from returning to prison. Although placements under the CARES Act were not made for reentry purposes, the best use of Bureau resources and the best outcome for affected offenders is to allow the agency to make individualized assessments of CARES Act placements with a focus on inmates' eventual reentry into the community. However, according to the Bureau, as of January 10, 2022, there were 2,826 total inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act with release dates in more than 12 months. Home Confinement L. 115-391, sec. 101(a), 132 Stat. Confidential business information identified and located as set forth above will not be placed in the public docket file, nor will it be posted online. (last visited Apr. The Bureau recently published a final rule codifying Bureau procedures regarding time credits that govern pre-release custody placements under section 3624(g). Accordingly, it is appropriate for the Department to consider whether the reintroduction into prison populations of individuals placed in home confinement, in part, upon consideration of their vulnerability to COVID-19[67] They are not permitted to leave their residences except for work or other preapproved activities such as counseling. 35. The Public Inspection page 13, 2020). available at https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/7320_001_CN-2.pdf. Many of these individualsall of whom have been successfully serving their sentences in the communitymay have release dates more than six months after the expiration of the covered emergency period when it expires, and therefore may not then be eligible for placement in home confinement under 18 U.S.C.