Inmates sent home amid pandemic may have to return under Trump-era policy

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Inmates sent home amid pandemic may have to return under Trump-era policy

By Justin Wm. Moyer and Neena Satija
April 21, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Thousands of federal inmates serving their sentences at home under supervision during the coronavirus pandemic might have to return to prison when the pandemic ends, according to a Justice Department memo issued during the waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Advocates and dozens of lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to rescind the memo, which affects some 4,500 inmates who last year were allowed to finish their sentences under home confinement. The Federal Bureau of Prisons sent them home under authority it was granted by Congress to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in federal prisons.

The inmates transferred to home confinement — all of whom were deemed “low risk” by BOP officials, and many of whom are elderly and in poor health — left prison last spring as the coronavirus tore through the federal prison system, eventually killing 233 inmates and four staff members, according to agency figures.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in an email that President Biden “is committed to reducing incarceration and helping people to reenter society,” but referred questions about the memo to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.

BOP spokeswoman Kristie A. Breshears said the agency “is aware” of the memo but had no other information.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/federal-prisoners-pandemic/2021/04/21/5d4cc3c8-96fa-11eb-8e42-3906c09073f9_story.html

[riversedge]

1. Seems to me since they were non violent crimes-they should not be locked up.