Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility April 14, 2022: COMPASSIONATE RELEASE and BOP COVID-19 BLOG
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April 14, 2022: COMPASSIONATE RELEASE and BOP COVID-19 BLOG




Fast Facts (Full BOP stats can be found here) Currently positive-testing inmates: 59 (down from 64) Currently positive-testing staff: 153 (up from 146) Recovered inmates currently in the BOP: 52,979 (down from 53,042) Recovered staff: 12,544 (up from 12,538)


Institutions with the largest number of currently positive-testing inmates:

Rochester FMC: 12 (up from 10)

Cumberland FCI: 5 (unchanged)

Victorville Medium II FCI: 5 (up from 4)

Institutions with the largest number of currently positive-testing staff:

Central Office HQ: 30 (unchanged)

Victorville Medium I FCI: 13 (unchanged )

Victorville USP: 13 (unchanged)

System-wide testing results: Presently, BOP has 136,315 federal inmates in BOP-managed institutions and 13,292 in community-based facilities. Today's stats: Completed tests: 128,782 (up from 128,781) Positive tests: 55,430 (up from 55,429)


Total vaccine doses administered: 311,815 (up from 311,524)


Case Note: Court rejects Government's woulda, coulda, shoulda argument...


In U.S. v. STEPHEN ELHANON WELLS, Defendant, No. 5:04-CR-30029, 2022 WL 1094727 (W.D. Va. Apr. 12, 2022) (Urbanski, CJ), the court rejected the Government’s supposition of what it would have charged if the 924(c) stacking provision did not apply, explaining: "Citing Wells's plea agreement, the government argues that Wells's sentence is not an extraordinary and compelling circumstance warranting compassionate release. Resp. In Opp'n, ECF No. 80, at 11. The government points out that “Wells was only convicted of two counts of§ 924(c) rather than the four that had been charged.” Id.at 11. The government contends that “[i]f the plea agreement were to be negotiated today,” or “[i]f his case were to have been charged today,” the outcome would have been different.Id.The basis for the argument is the government's assertion that if Wells had been charged and convicted on the four firearm counts, under current sentencing standards he would have been subject to a minimum sentence of 360 months based on all the charges in the superseding indictment.Id.at 12. But the government's hypothetical new plea agreement is unpersuasive, as “this court has repeatedly rejected attempts by the government to argue it would have chosen a different prosecutorial strategy had different law governed at the time.”United States v. Steppe, 3:16-cr-22, Dkt. 328, at 5 (W.D. Va. Apr. 20, 2021);see United States v. Smith, 379 F. Supp. 3d 543, 548 (W.D. Va. 2019)(“The retroactive assumption suggested by the government simply is too speculative a basis on which to determine [a defendant's] eligibility for a sentence reduction.”). “[S]uch a speculative claim is insufficient” as one could engage in many hypotheticals about what “might have been different at the time” Wells was charged.United States v. Stanback, 377 F. Supp. 3d 618, 624 (W.D. Va. 2019).”


Death Watch (Note: The BOP press website announces BOP COVID-related deaths here.) The BOP has identified no new inmate fatalities, leaving them at 293. Eleven of the inmates died while on home confinement. Staff deaths remain at 7



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