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. 26-27 (2020), documents in the last year, 667 This proposed rule affirms that the Director has the authority to allow prisoners placed in home confinement under the CARES Act to remain in home confinement after the expiration of the covered emergency period. documents in the last year, by the Energy Department 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. The . [57] In this Issue, Documents As of December 2021, the BOP has transferred over 36,000 eligible inmates to home confinement following the instructions from the Attorney General on March 26, 2020, that the BOP prioritizes home confinement as an appropriate response to the Covid-19 pandemic.. 11. . 18 U.S.C. 2022 (OPI- RSD/RRM . After July 21, 2022, the BOP and DOJ will review the comments and issue a Final Rule. Start Printed Page 36792 If you want to submit personal identifying information (such as your name, address, etc.) (Nov. 16, 2020), Initially, prioritization is being made to review inmates who meet the following . Third, the FSA established earned time credits that eligible inmates could accrue through participating in recidivism-reducing programs and then apply for transfer to pre-release custody, including home confinement, without regard for the time frames set forth in 18 U.S.C. Home Confinement CARES Act - Zoukis Consulting Group and breakthrough infections may occur even in fully vaccinated persons, who are then able to spread the disease. 3501-3521. If you want to inspect the agency's public docket file in person by appointment, please see the available at https://www.bop.gov/foia/docs/Updated_Home_Confinement_Guidance_20201116.pdf. S. 756First Step Act of 2018, Congress.gov, Black people spend a lot of time in solitary confinement, and lawyers CRJU 201 (11) - Dr. Sun - April 07, 2022 Guest Speaker: What is Human 26, 2020), 751. (last visited Apr. As explained above, the proposed rule will also have operational, penological, and health benefits. See It was signed into law in March 2020. First, the FSA demonstrated Congress's interest in increasing the amount of time low-risk offenders spend in home confinement, while continuing to leave decisions about individual prisoners to the Bureau's discretion, by providing that [t]he Bureau of Prisons shall, to the extent practicable, place prisoners with lower risk levels and lower needs on home confinement for the maximum amount of time permitted under [18 U.S.C. See Home-Confinement Placements, The term to place derives from a different statute18 U.S.C. 28, 2022). [41] offers a preview of documents scheduled to appear in the next day's [64] FSA sec. Home confinement for federal prisoners is about to expand with the release of the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") new April 4, 2019, Operations Memorandum, Home Confinement Under the First Step Act.You can access a copy of the entire operations memorandum here: BOP Home Confinement Memorandum.We have previously reported about the BOP's implementation of the Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program. In a letter to the Attorney General and the Director dated March 23, 2020, a bipartisan group of United States Senators expressed concern about the potential for COVID-19 spread among, in particular, vulnerable Bureau staff and inmates, and called upon the Bureau to use available statutory authorities to increase its utilization of home confinement to mitigate the risk.[9]. following the end of the covered emergency period. The BOP had this authority long before the CARES Act, most recently updating its standards in 2019. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Public Law 116-136, sec. The President of the United States issues other types of documents, including but not limited to; memoranda, notices, determinations, letters, messages, and orders. 1) What are the eligibility requirements for an inmate to be considered for Home Confinement under the CARES Act and the Attorney General Guidelines? [35] The CARES Act provides that if the Attorney General finds that emergency conditions will . O.L.C. It is now well established that congregate living settings, and correctional facilities in particular, heighten the risk of COVID-19 spread due to multiple factors. COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges for correctional facilities, such as those the Bureau manages. See Home Confinement of Federal Prisoners After the COVID-19 Emergency, Additional observation and research will need to be conducted to determine if this very low level of recidivism can be maintained, or if it was affected by the unique external circumstances caused by the global pandemic. codifed at (last visited Apr. 3632(d); Memorandum for Chief Executive Officers from Andre Matevousian Pullen, Case No 3:22-CV-00339, 2022 US Dist LEXIS 141271 (D.Conn, August 9, 2022) USA Today, They were released from prison because of COVID-19. available at https://www.durbin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter.%20to%20DOJ%20and%20BOP%20on%20COVID-19%20and%20FSA%20provisions%20-%20final%20bipartisan%20text%20with%20signature%20blocks.pdf et al., Association Between Prison Crowding and COVID-19 Incidence Rates in Massachusetts Prisons, April 2020-January 2021, The January 2021 OLC opinion based its conclusion on three principal determinations. See (last visited Apr. If you want to submit confidential business information as part of your comment but do not want it to be posted online, you must include the phrase CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION in the first paragraph of your comment. 44. Ned Lamont said. The Proposed Rule concerns people that went to home confinement under the CARES Act. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT At this moment, thousands of people safely completing their sentences at home are living in fear that they'll be sent back to federal prison through no fault of their own. The number of new offenders represented less than two-tenths of a percent of the 11,000 sent home. OJJDP News @ a Glance, January/February 2023 | News in Brief | Office On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared that a national emergency existed with respect to the outbreak of COVID-19, beginning on March 1, 2020. (3) This section concerns only inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act. should verify the contents of the documents against a final, official 59. 51. individualized determinations about the conditions of confinement for inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, as it does with respect to all prisoners,[27] Individuals in close contact with an infected persongenerally less than 6 feet apartare most likely to get infected. electronic version on GPOs govinfo.gov. 45 Op. documents in the last year, 987 The Final Rule becomes the law that the BOP will follow. 6. Individuals placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, like other inmates in home confinement, remain in the custody of the Bureau. the Department's assessment, public safety considerations do not undercut the benefits associated with allowing inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act to remain in home confinement after the expiration of the covered emergency period. It further explained that inmates who engaged in violent or gang-related activity while in prison, those who incurred a violation within the past year, or those with a PATTERN score above the minimum range would not receive priority consideration under the memorandum. See id. 823 F.3d 1238, 1242 (9th Cir. Given the surge in positive cases at select sites and in response to the Attorney General Barr's directives, the BOP began immediately reviewing all inmates who have COVID-19 risk factors, as described by the CDC, to determine which inmates are suitable for home confinement. 18 U.S.C. One of the vital tools in operating a correctional system is the ability to effectively manage bedspace based on the needs of the offender, security requirements, and agency resources. Although the CARES Act was a response to the emergency conditions presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress's expansion of the Bureau's home confinement authority as part of that response is consistent with its recent and clear indication of support for expanding the use of home confinement based on the needs of individual offenders. [28] These data suggest that inmates placed on longer-term home confinement under the CARES Act can be and have been successfully managed, with only a limited number requiring return to secure custody for disciplinary reasons. The benefits include lower rates of new offense, reduced trauma and racial inequities, and better opportunities for behavior changes. 45 Op. average of $55 per dayless than half of the cost of an inmate in secure custody in FY 2020. This prototype edition of the Start Printed Page 36794 4001(b)(1). Comment on Home Confinement Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and (GC 2022-D066) 62 Therefore, under Executive Order 13132, the Attorney General determines that this proposed regulation does not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant the preparation of a Federalism Assessment. [2] The Attorney General made the relevant finding with respect to the Bureau on April 3, 2020. and the resulting increased crowding in prison settings could lead to new COVID-19 outbreaks, including breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated inmates and infections in the most vulnerable prisoners. But recognizing the impact that COVID-19 could have among the prison population, Congress also expanded the Bureau's home confinement authority last year when it passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, better known as the CARES Act. 45 Op. https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/pattern.jsp. The Attorney General directed that the determination of whether to place an inmate in home confinement should be made on an individualized basis, taking into account the totality of the inmate's circumstances, the statutory requirements, and the following non-exhaustive discretionary factors: The inmate's risk score under the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs (PATTERN);[11], The inmate's crime of conviction and the danger the inmate would pose to the community. [49] 18 U.S.C. Opinion | Covid policies show many people in prison are no danger to BOP Prisoners on Extended Home Confinement Not Headed Back to Prison available at https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/docs/bop_memo_home_confinement.pdf 4001 and 28 U.S.C. [22] The documents posted on this site are XML renditions of published Federal 60541. It is further supported by evidence demonstrating that the Bureau can appropriately manage public safety concerns related to inmates in home confinement, and by the penological, rehabilitative, public health, public safety, and societal benefits of allowing inmates to effectively prepare for successful reentry after the conclusion of their criminal sentences. 47. by the Foreign Assets Control Office Reaffirm condemnation of torture as a human rights violation and call for an end to prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture. Language and Structure of the CARES Act, PART 0ORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-13217, MODS: Government Publishing Office metadata, https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/docs/bop_memo_home_confinement_april3.pdf, https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1457926/download, part 0 of title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/basics-covid-19.html, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html, https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/community/correction-detention/COVID-Corrections-considerations-for-loosening-restrictions-Webinar.pdf, https://www.durbin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter.%20to%20DOJ%20and%20BOP%20on%20COVID-19%20and%20FSA%20provisions%20-%20final%20bipartisan%20text%20with%20signature%20blocks.pdf, https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/docs/bop_memo_home_confinement.pdf, https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/pattern.jsp, http://www.bop.gov/foia/docs/Home%20Confinemet%20memo_2021_04_13.pdf, https://www.bop.gov/foia/docs/Updated_Home_Confinement_Guidance_20201116.pdf, https://www.bop.gov/foia/docs/Home%20Confinement%20memo_2021_04_13.pdf, https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/faq.jsp, https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/7320_001_CN-2.pdf, https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1355886/download, https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/1593/actions?r=5&s=5, https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/756/actions?r=6&s=9, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/living-prisons-jails.html, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/effectiveness/why-measure-effectiveness/breakthrough-cases.html. 18 U.S.C. Liesl M. Hagan 5. Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, is the Managing Director of the Zoukis Consulting Group, a federal prison consultancy that assists attorneys, federal criminal defendants, and federal prisoners with prison preparation and in-prison matters. ( CARES Act Home Confinement & the OLC Memo - FAMM . Statement for the Record HJC BOP Oversight Hearing 13, 2020). 25. Congress further expanded the Bureau's use of home confinement through the FSA in three contexts. 27, 2020, 134 Stat 281). H.R.132 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Federal Prison Bureau Nonviolent This document has been published in the Federal Register. In its recent opinion, OLC concluded that section 12003(b)(2) does not require the Bureau to return to secure custody inmates on CARES Act home confinement following the end of the covered emergency period. A new law setting limitations on isolated confinement for incarcerated individuals will take effect in Connecticut on July 1, Gov. And it is in the best penological interests of affected inmates. 3624(c)(2). 10. documents in the last year, 20 CARES Act inmates who remain in home confinement after the covered emergency period would continue to be subject to these requirements until the end of their sentences, and possibly into a term of supervised release. As of April 26, 2022, over 988,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19. It ranks as one of the most successful programs implemented by the BOP. at 5198, Although the numbers will likely differ for FY 2021 and beyond, the Department and the Bureau expect that the proposed rule will benefit them as a result of the avoidance of costs the Bureau would otherwise expend to confine the affected inmates in secure custody. Rodriguez 843-620-1100. [House Hearing, 117 Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] THE FIRST STEP ACT, THE PANDEMIC, AND COMPASSIONATE RELEASE: WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS FOR THE FEDERAL BUR [12], The Attorney General's memorandum explained that some offenses would render an inmate ineligible for home confinement, and that other serious offenses would weigh more heavily against consideration for home confinement. For all the reasons set forth above, the Department proposes to promulgate this rulemaking under the Attorney General's authority, 3624(c)(2)and even assuming the act of placement involves an ongoing process, the Bureau fully completes the act of lengthening the time for which an individual may be placed in home confinement under the CARES Act when an inmate is transferred to home confinement under the Act. __, at *2, *5-7. 5212, Finally, the Bureau needs flexibility to consider whether continued home confinement for CARES Act inmates is in the interest of the public health, and whether reintroduction of CARES Act inmates into secure facilities would create the risk of new outbreaks of COVID-19 among the prison populationeven after the conclusion of the broader pandemic emergency. available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/basics-covid-19.html See Id. These costs are all mitigated, however, by retaining the Director's discretion to determine whether any inmate should be returned to secure custody based on an individualized assessment. This site displays a prototype of a Web 2.0 version of the daily 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. 40. website. BOP RE: sec. Based on BOP's success and emerging evidence about the public safety benefits of electronic monitoring, lawmakers should begin expanding, testing, and evaluating home confinement as a way to help end mass incarceration in the U.S. To help limit the spread of COVID-19, the CARES Act authorized BOP to allow some prisoners to serve their . 32. 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. 25 Points on Home Confinement - Prison Professors "CARES Act home confinement is, frankly, a black box," Guernsey, of the University of Iowa, said. 24. CARES Act sec. at *4-5. Supervision of inmates in home confinement is also significantly less costly for the Bureau than housing inmates in secure custody. The House of Representatives passed the First Step Act by a vote of 358 to 36, and the Senate passed the Act by a vote of 87 to 12. prisoner may be placed in home confinement. Under these agreements, individuals placed in home confinement are subject to electronic monitoring; check-in requirements; drug and alcohol testing; and transfer back to secure correctional facilities for any significant disciplinary infractions or violations of the agreement. 64 Fed. Following the issuance of a final rule, the Bureau will develop, in consultation with the Department, guidance to explain criteria that it will use to make individualized determinations as to whether any inmate placed in home confinement under the CARES Act should be returned to secure custody. corresponding official PDF file on govinfo.gov. shall be committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons until the expiration of the term imposed . 12003(c)(1), 134 Stat. 4. Office of the Attorney General, Department of Justice. Sentencing Law and Policy: Celebrating "real" recidivism is - Typepad 03/03/2023, 160 Biden starts clemency process for inmates released due to Covid Federal Register provide legal notice to the public and judicial notice 2016). It uses the term covered emergency period twice, at the beginning and the end of the section. mum amount of time" for home confinement during the emergency and that the consequences of those decisions might cont inue, even though the authority to make the decision in the first instance has lapsed. [32] These challenges include a high risk of rapid transmission due to congregate living settings, and a high risk of severe disease due to the high prevalence of pre-existing conditions and risk factors associated with severe COVID-19 illness in prison populations. The President of the United States manages the operations of the Executive branch of Government through Executive orders. available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/community/correction-detention/COVID-Corrections-considerations-for-loosening-restrictions-Webinar.pdf PRISONS AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICE BILL, 2022 Explanation MEMoranduM This Bill will provide for establishment, functions and administration of the Prisons and Correctional Service; the Prisons and Correctional Service Commission; the establishment of prisons and correctional facilities; the functions, rights, obligations and discipline of prison officers; the safe custody of all offenders under . This proposed rule meets the applicable standards set forth in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice Reform). 5238. Start Printed Page 36790 The Department's interpretation of the statute is also consistent with Congressional support for increasing the use of home confinement as part of reentry programming, as the Second Chance Act of 2007 and the First Step Act of 2018 demonstrate. In comparison, section 12003(b)(2) uses the term covered emergency period at the beginning of the section only, referring to the time period during which the Director may lengthen a term of home confinement. at *4. 603(a), 132 Stat. (GC 2022-D015) . Most are working, paying taxes, and supporting themselves and their children. [38] et al., Is Downsizing Prisons Dangerous? 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. And third, it reasoned that the authority to place a prisoner in home confinement required the exercise of ongoing legal authority due to the Bureau's frequent interactions with inmates in home confinement, and that authority would not exist after the expiration of the covered emergency period. Inmates who violate these conditions may be disciplined and returned to secure custody. But upon the Attorney General's further review of the statutory language, and in the face of a growing body of evidence demonstrating the success of CARES Act home confinement placements, the Attorney General requested that OLC reconsider its earlier opinion. without making an individualized assessment or identifying a penological, rehabilitative, public health, or public safety basis for the action. 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). In Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, the cost of incarceration fee (COIF) for a Federal inmate in a Federal facility was $107.85 per day; in FY 2020, it was $120.59 per day. 115-699, at 22-24 (2018) (The federal prison system needs to be reformed through the implementation of corrections policy reforms designed to enhance public safety by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal prison system in order to control corrections spending, manage the prison population, and reduce recidivism.); H.R. et al. . [19] H.R. codified at (Mar. Id. (Apr. 29, 2022). codified at See id. available at https://doi.org/10.17226/25945 As noted above, 3621(a) (A person who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment . et al., Federal Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 7320.01, CN-2, Home Confinement (updated Dec. 15, 2017), available at https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1355886/download. This view is reinforced by the structure of the CARES Act, and particularly by a comparison of section 12003(b)(2) with the section of the CARES Act that immediately follows it. For all of these reasons, and for the additional reasons the operative OLC opinion explains in more detail, the Department believes that the best reading of the CARES Act is that an inmate whose period of home confinement the Director properly lengthened during the covered emergency period may remain in home confinement, at the Director's discretion, including after the covered emergency period ends. Start Printed Page 36789 . The massive CARES ACT granted then-Attorney General Bill Barr the option to broaden the use of the home confinement program, which had previously only been allowed to be used at the very end of a . The Attorney General, under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. Persons hospitalized in private or public hospitals were allowed only one individual with whom he or she could openly and privately correspond. The average cost for an inmate in home confinement was $55 per day, representing a cost savings of approximately $65.59 per day, per inmate, or approximately $23,940.35 per year, per inmate. 52. Lompoc, California (DAS) - In May 2020, during the peak of the original COVID-19 national pandemic, the federal prison at Lompoc, California was 130% overcrowded. Of this total, there were 2,272 inmates with release dates in more than 18 months; 593 inmates with release dates in 5 years or more; and 27 inmates with release dates in 10 years or more. The House of Representatives passed the Second Chance Act by a vote of 347 to 62, and the Senate passed the Act without amendment by unanimous consent. You must also prominently identify the confidential business information to be redacted within the comment. [8] Court Approves Settlement; BOP to Rapidly Process Lompoc Inmates Under Expanded CARES Act Home Confinement Rules. The age and vulnerability of the inmate to COVID-19; The security level of the facility housing the inmate, with priority given to inmates residing in low and minimum security facilities; Whether the inmate had a reentry plan that would prevent recidivism and maximize public safety; and, Authority delegations (Government agencies), Organization and functions (Government agencies). This information is not part of the official Federal Register document. Prisoners sent to home confinement because of the pandemic might remain free.