Inmate Rights to Compassionate Release Under Threat Across U.S.

Federal prosecutors have been seeking to limit inmates’ rights to win compassionate release from prison in plea negotiations across the country, reports NPR.

At least six jurisdictions around the nation either bar incarcerees from filing any motions for early release because of extraordinary medical or family conditions, or limiting them to only one such request and barring appeals.

The groups ―Families Against Mandatory Minimums and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ―say these moves undermine the intent of Congress and produce cruel outcomes.

More than 4,000 people have used a 2018 provision granted by Congress giving prisoners the ability to petition a federal court for freedom under the First Step Act to win release.

The situation is even more fraught legally because the Sentencing Commission, a federal body that sets advisory guidelines for punishment in federal cases, has been all but unable to operate amid six vacancies on the panel and three years without a quorum.

Among the work on its to-do list: defining what amounts to “extraordinary and compelling circumstances” that might merit an early release from prison.

Well over 90 percent of federal prosecutions end in guilty pleas, lending the language in plea agreements enormous impact on the uncertain futures of men and women in prison.

Additional Reading:

Compassionate Release Leaves Thousands of Inmates in Limbo, The Crime Report, Oct. 21, 2021

Compassionate Release and the Pandemic: A Policy Failure?  The Crime Report, July 12, 2021