March 26, 2020.
This week, Attorney General William Barr issued a memo to the Bureau of Prisons urging officials to identify certain inmates for home confinement in an effort to reduce the inmate population. The move to expand home confinement comes after reports that inmates in at least two BOP facilities have contracted the coronavirus. To date, 6 inmates and 4 staffers have tested positive, with one in critical condition.
Even after an inmate is identified as suitable for release into house arrest, however, he or she must be held in quarantine for 14 days to ensure they are not infectious. Additionally, inmates convicted of sex offenses are apparently ineligible for release, and the memo counsels against releasing individuals serving time for “serious offenses.” Barr’s memo also asserts that some inmates may safer in custody, a statement directly at odds with the opinions of numerous medical and public health experts.
Click here to read the article at ABC News.