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Barr Instructs BOP to Move Non-Violent Inmates to Home Confinement to Avoid Contracting COVID-19
Attorney General William Barr says nonviolent inmates who are at risk of contracting the coronavirus should be moved out of prison facilities. They must be allowed to serve out their sentences in home confinement.
“Many inmates will be safer in BOP (Bureau of Prisons) facilities where the population is controlled and there is ready access to doctors and medical care,” Barr wrote in a two-page memo to the BOP. “But for some eligible inmates, home confinement might be more effective in protecting their health.”
ABC News reported that in a press conference at the Justice Department, which was conducted via teleconference, “Barr said that of the 146,000 inmates currently serving time in federal prison facilities, one third are believed to have pre-existing medical conditions and roughly 10,000 are over the age of 60 years old.”
AG William Barr pushes expansion of home confinement to reduce prison populations amid coronavirus – ABC News https://t.co/uocJIiYmo0
— Bernard B. Kerik (@BernardKerik) March 26, 2020
“You want to make sure that our institutions don't become petri dishes and it spreads rapidly through a particular institution,” Barr said. “But we have the protocols that are designed to stop it and we are using all the tools we have to protect the inmates.”
Barr instructed the bureau to prioritize home confinement for prisoners in low- and minimum-security facilities as they are not a safety threat to the community. Inmates who have committed violent crimes or sexual offenses are not eligible for home confinement, said Fox News.
Fox News reported that the BOP medical doctor was told to assess an inmate’s risk factor in contracting COVID-19. This includes their exposures at the prison facility, their health history, and age. Those who are granted home confinement must be quarantined for 14 days before they are discharged from the prison.
“We cannot take any risk of transferring inmates to home confinement that will contribute to the spread of COVID-19,” Barr wrote.
6 Comments
BS!!! thats a risk you take when you commit a crime. Thats like saying were going to move release them because they could get shanked. Why should law abiding citizens be subjected to criminals who already cant comply with rule of law. Do you really think they are going to self quarantine and stay home.
I agree with the statement above. You give up your rights when you break the law. When I lived in Japan I learned that anybody who committed a crime in Japan whether it was taking a piece of gum or murder or anything in between he went to prison for six years. Horrible horrible environment. Wet, cold, no health concerns for the people. All you got was one cup of rice and a fish head for food each day. if our prisons were run this way there would be far less prisoners.
Agree completely with you both! This is not justified. Just because they’re inside a facility doesn’t give them the right to be sent home. Our elderly aren’t being sent home with ventilators to live their final days with family. They didn’t ask to be subjected to this virus! When someone is convicted and locked up, they lose all their rights. They don’t go home when they get cancer or they’re sick, why now?! This is wrong!
Ditto here. No need for me to say anything, you 3 have said it all.
I agree with all the above but noticed this in the second to last paragraph.
“Those who are granted home confinement must be quarantined for 14 days before they are discharged from the prison.”
What is this bit about being discharged from the prison after their quarantine? Is that then the end of their prison sentence?
With all the homeless people out there and there many problems now we turn loose criminals on the citizens?Just another crazy way to spread the virus.It seems like the worst people get the best treatment.There are no jobs,or place for regular people,I guess they will join the homeless in the sanctuary city,s?