Document Drafting Handbook First, that section empowers the Attorney General to make a finding, during the pandemic emergency, that the pandemic has materially affected the functioning of the Bureau. Early studies demonstrated that around 64 percent of persons incarcerated in BOP institutions who were offered COVID-19 vaccinations accepted them. Individuals placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, like other inmates in home confinement, remain in the custody of the Bureau. 46. O.L.C. These benefits include operational flexibility in managing BOP-operated institutions and cost savings for the Bureau. Id. [45] better and aid in comparing the online edition to the print edition. During the course of this reconsideration, the Bureau provided OLC with additional materials supporting its consistent interpretation of the CARES Act. CARES Act Home Confinement & the OLC Memo. See The Administration will start the clemency process with a review of non-violent drug offenders on CARES Act home confinement with four years or less to serve," Bates added. This proposed rule does not impose any new reporting or recordkeeping requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. S. 756First Step Act of 2018, Congress.gov, Start Printed Page 36788. The changes made by the FSA to the process for awarding GCT credit have resulted in recalculation of the release date of most inmates. In April 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) under the CARES Act to reduce the number of people in federal prisons. 29, 2022); Nat'l Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/basics-covid-19.html 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 That section makes a single change to the Bureau's home confinement authorityto allow the Director to lengthen the duration for which prisoners can be placed in home confinement relative to the maximum time periods set forth in 18 U.S.C. 56. Medication that you are currently on (eg. 4001(b)(1). At the outset, the Department has authority to promulgate rules to manage the Bureau of Prisons, and to administer CARES Act section 12003(b)(2). (last visited Apr. 5238. at 1 (Apr. increased crowding in prisons, which makes social distancing difficult, is associated with increased incidence of COVID-19. 804. 2. https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/pattern.jsp. There is no legislative history to support such a reading, and there are other plausible explanations for the grace period, including broader forms of administrative convenience and benefit, such as letting BOP finish processing home-confinement placements that were in progress and to which BOP had already devoted resources. 11. See Bureau of Prisons, Home Confinement Under the CARES Act at 2 (Nov. 20, 2020). 12003(b)(2), 134 Stat. documents in the last year, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1. As noted above, Part C.1, the current OLC opinion explains the textual basis for this view, including the absence of a statutory limit on the length of CARES Act home-confinement placements and the contrast between CARES Act sections 12003(b)(2) and 12003(c)(1). [28] and services, go to ADDRESSES: Please submit electronic (2) After the expiration of the covered emergency period as defined by the CARES Act, permitting any prisoner placed in home confinement under the CARES Act who is not yet otherwise eligible for home confinement under separate statutory authority to remain in home confinement under the CARES Act for the remainder of her sentence, as the Director determines appropriate. See These efforts were undertaken over years of bipartisan negotiations and garnered broad support across the political spectrum, beginning with the Second Chance Act of 2007 and 58. [53] If you are using public inspection listings for legal research, you Federal Bureau of Prisons, PATTERN Risk Assessment, [31] That authority under the CARES Act exists during the period for which there is a declaration of national emergency with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and for 30 days after the termination of that declaration, provided that the Attorney General has made a finding that the emergency conditions materially affect the functioning of the Bureau of Prisons. Although placements under the CARES Act were not made for reentry purposes, the best use of Bureau resources and the best outcome for affected offenders is to allow the agency to make individualized assessments of CARES Act placements with a focus on inmates' eventual reentry into the community. Start Printed Page 36792 Abigail I. Leibowitz include documents scheduled for later issues, at the request BOP RE: et al., Is Downsizing Prisons Dangerous? Providing the Bureau with discretion to determine whether any inmate placed in home confinement under the CARES Act should return to secure custody will increase the Bureau's ability to respond to outside circumstances and manage its resources in an efficient manner that considers both public safety and the needs of individual inmates. Crista Colvin, Office of General Counsel, Bureau of Prisons, phone (202) 353-4885. Under typical circumstances, inmates who have made the transition to home confinement would not be returned to a secure facility absent a disciplinary reason, because the purpose of home confinement is to allow inmates to readjust to life in the community. establishing the XML-based Federal Register as an ACFR-sanctioned COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges for correctional facilities, such as those the Bureau manages. documents in the last year, 26 by the Foreign Assets Control Office Please note that all comments received are considered part of the public record and made available for public inspection online at This section differs from section 12003(b)(2) in important ways. This determination was based on a culmination . The Baker Act prohibited the indiscriminate admission of persons to state Second, OLC did not interpret the 30-day grace period following the end of the national emergency as necessarily suggesting that Congress intended the Bureau to use that time to return CARES Act inmates to secure custody. 3621(b). You must also prominently identify the confidential business information to be redacted within the comment. April 21, 2021. 3(b), 122 Stat. In response . 26, 2022). Following guidance from the Attorney General, the Director has exercised his discretion under the CARES Act to place thousands of inmates in home confinement during the pandemic emergency. 2. The day after the Attorney General's first memorandum, on March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the CARES Act, which expanded the authority of the Director to place inmates in home confinement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic upon a finding by the Attorney General. See id. 03/03/2023, 827 et al., Rep. No. It was created pursuant to the First Step Act of 2018. 3624(c)(2) authorizes the Director to transfer inmates to home confinement for the shorter of either 10 percent of the term of imprisonment or six months. website. Use the PDF linked in the document sidebar for the official electronic format. 17. Before the pandemic, the Bureau of Prisons had the authority to transfer inmates to home confinement for just the final six months of their sentences. 60. Because the affected inmates are currently serving their sentences in home confinement, there will be no new costs associated with this proposed rulemaking. Jan. 13, 2022. 51. This proposed rule will not have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship between the Federal Government and the States, or on distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government. at 516. 509, 510, part 0 of title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations is proposed to be amended as follows: 1. See The Public Inspection page may also The term to place derives from a different statute18 U.S.C. . 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 . Memorandum for Chief Executive Officers from Andre Matevousian . 13, 2020). Guest Speaker: What is Human Trafficking - Definition: - Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age - Labor Trafficking ~ The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force . 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. and discretion to designate the place of those inmates' imprisonment. Such cost savings were among the intended benefits of the First Step Act.[56]. 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. [30] You must also locate all the personal identifying information you do not want posted online in the first paragraph of your comment and identify what information you want redacted. 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. Rep. No. 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. Congress plainly intended the Department to use its discretion, drawing on the expertise of the Attorney General and the Director, to administer section 12003(b)(2) of the CARES Act. the Federal Register. The Bureau subsequently issued internal guidance that, in addition to adopting the criteria in the Attorney General's memoranda, prioritized for home confinement inmates who had served 50 percent or more of their sentences or those who had 18 months or less remaining in their sentences and had served more than 25 percent of that sentence. documents in the last year, 87 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. sec. See, e.g., 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. 21. See id. 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. [66] This site displays a prototype of a Web 2.0 version of the daily 45 Op. See 3621(b) (providing that [t]he Bureau of Prisons shall designate the place of the prisoner's imprisonment, taking into account factors such as facility resources; the offense committed; the inmate's history and characteristics; recommendations of the sentencing court; and any pertinent policy of the United States Sentencing Commission). (Mar. . sec. BOP, Since the . 12. Such individualized assessments are consistent with direction the Bureau has received from Congress in other contexts. et seq. documents in the last year, 20 et al. Id. Chevron, 3501-3521. edition of the Federal Register. The CARES Act provides that if the Attorney General finds that emergency conditions will . available at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home But the current opinion also explains the rationale underlying its They are not permitted to leave their residences except for work or other preapproved activities such as counseling. This milestone number also includes inmates eligible for Home Confinement under the emergency authority exercised by the Attorney General on April 3, 2020 in accordance with the CARES Act. 42. The letter, dated Feb. 7, is a response to a request from 27 members of Congress asking for specific details regarding whether or not all released prisoners will remain on home confinement and . According to the Bureau, as of March 4, 2022, a small percentage of inmates placed in home confinement pursuant to the CARES Act357 out of approximately 9,500 total individualshad been returned to secure custody as a result of violations of the conditions of home confinement.