DOJ Says Thousands of Prisoners Released on Home Confinement Over COVID Concerns Don’t Have to Return to Prison

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that the thousands of prisoners released on home confinement over COVID-19 concerns will not have to return to prison when the health emergency ends.

The Associated Press reported that Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the department's decision to reverse its own legal opinion.

"In light of today's Office of Legal Counsel opinion, I have directed that the Department engage in a rulemaking process to ensure that the Department lives up to the letter and the spirit of the CARES Act," Garland said in a statement.

The CARES Act or the March 2020 coronavirus relief bill has allowed prisoners to be transferred into home confinement.

Garland noted that thousands of prisoners on home confinement "have reconnected with their families, have found gainful employment, and have followed the rules."

DOJ Says Prisoners Released on Home Confinement Don't Have to Return to Prison

In its Tuesday's memo, DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel said preexisting authorities of the Federal Bureau of Prisons "does not require that prisoners in extended home confinement be returned en masse to correctional facilities when the emergency period ends."

In a statement, Families Against Mandatory Minimums President Kevin Ring lauded the DOJ for its decision, saying, "this is excellent news for thousands of people and their families to get before the holidays."

Ring added that they were very grateful to the Biden administration for this.

Over 35,000 Inmates Transferred to Home Confinement

According to the memo, more than 35,000 prisoners had been transferred to house arrest under the CARES Act, New York Post reported. But around 2,830 of the nearly 5,000 people were slated to return to prison as others have completed their sentences.

DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel noted that it did not lightly depart from its precedents and "had given the views expressed in our prior opinion careful and respectful consideration."

In the final days of Donald Trump's presidency, the DOJ said the released prisoners would have to return to prison at the end of the emergency period declared during the pandemic, NBC News reported.

The released inmates were selected based on several factors such as age, health or vulnerability to the virus, length of remaining sentence, and their conduct behind bars. However, sex offenders were not considered for home confinement.

Priority was also given to low- or medium-security prisons, where COVID spread the fastest. Many of the prisoners sent for home confinement had completed their sentences. Garland lauded that these prisoners followed the rules.

"We will exercise our authority so that those who have made rehabilitative progress and complied with the conditions of home confinement, and who in the interests of justice should be given an opportunity to continue transitioning back to society, are not unnecessarily returned to prison," Garland noted.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

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