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January 26, 2023: COMPASSIONATE RELEASE, COVID-19, and BOP BLOG



Fast Facts (Full BOP stats can be found here)


Confirmed active cases at 77 BOP facilities and 10 RRCs

Currently positive-testing inmates: 131 (up from 126) Currently positive-testing staff: 130 (down from 131) Recovered inmates currently in the BOP: 46,559 (down from 46,614) Recovered staff: 14,990 (up from 14,981)


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

Butner Medium I FCI: 12 (unchanged)

Houston FDC: 10 (unchanged)

Lompoc USC: 9 (unchanged)


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

Grand Prairie: 13 (unchanged)

Pekin FCI: 11 (unchanged)

Dublin FCI: 7 (unchanged)


System-wide testing results: Presently, BOP has 145,605 federal inmates in BOP-managed institutions and 12,920 in community-based facilities. Today's stats: Completed tests: 128,635 (up from 128,633) Positive tests: 55,283 (up from 55,281)


Total vaccine doses administered: 346,432 (up from 346,347)


Case Note: Sentence of sick defendant reduced with Government's blessing...


In U.S. v. Prince, No. 216CR00225GMNNJK2, 2023 WL 205501 (D. Nev. Jan. 17, 2023) (Navarro, J.) the Government acknowledged that defendant’s heart failure and kidney failure during COVID were extraordinary and compelling and agreed the court should reduce defendant’s sentence to time-served with a modification that the remaining 48 months of defendant's sentence be served on home confinement, the court agreeing and explaining: “The Government disputes neither that Defendant has exhausted his administrative remedies, nor that Defendant has presented “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for his release in light of his underlying medical conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic. … As such, the Court's analysis is limited to a discussion of whether Defendant has demonstrated that his release would not present a danger to the public, as well as whether release is warranted under the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors. … First, the Court reflects on the “nature and circumstances of the offense.” This factor can be bifurcated into two separate but related inquiries. The former will examine how courts have broadly considered drug offenses in determining the danger posed by an individual. The latter will analyze the specific circumstances of Defendant's offense, namely his role in the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Beginning with Defendant's charge for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, the Court notes that it takes seriously the destruction drugs cause the community. Nevertheless, courts have found that a conviction for a non-violent drug offense alone is not enough to demonstrate that a person will be a danger to the community. … Turning to the specific circumstances of the offense, courts have denied compassionate release due to concerns about public safety where the defendant had a leadership role in the drug distribution conspiracy. … Next the Court will consider the Defendant's history and characteristics, including his physical and mental condition. Here, Defendant's physical condition has severely deteriorated since the time he committed the underlying offense. Defendant is currently confined to a wheelchair, has an implanted pacemaker on his chest, is fully oxygen dependent, and has suffered three strokes, to say nothing of his congestive heart failure and kidney disease. (Second MCR 14:11–20); (Medical Records, Ex. A to Second MCR). Despite Defendant's various medical afflictions, the Court's notes that Defendant's medical conditions “may not hinder [him] from engaging in criminal activity, especially given that Defendant was convicted of offenses conducted out of his own home.” Considering the above, the Court finds that the nature and circumstances of Defendant's offense, when viewed in conjunction to his current physical condition, does not indicate that Defendant's release poses a threat of harm to the community. … Turning to the need for the sentence imposed, the Court's prior Order identified that compassionate release was inappropriate because Defendant had only served fourteen (14) months of his ninety-seven (97) month sentence, or fourteen (14) percent of his prescribed period of incarceration. (Order 5:1–10). As Defendant had only served a limited amount of his sentence, the Order found that retribution and just punishment warranted Defendant's continued incarceration. (Id. 5:11–15). The prior interests identified by the Court have now diminished to such a degree that Defendant's continued incarceration is no longer warranted. Defendant has now served thirty-nine (39) months of his sentence, or approximately forty (40) percent of his prescribed period of incarceration. … Based on the foregoing, the Court finds that the § 3553(a) weigh in favor of release. Further, the Government has stated that it “does not oppose home confinement for the remainder of [Defendant's] prison sentence, followed by [forty-eight] 48 months of supervised release ...” (Resp. Second MCR 7:1–3). As the § 3553(a) weigh in favor of release, and the Government does not otherwise oppose the imposition of home confinement, the Court will reduce Defendant's sentence to time served, extend his supervised-release term, and add a condition of home confinement for the remainder of his custodial sentence, which is approximately fifty-eight (58) months. Accordingly, Defendant's Second Motion for Compassionate Release is GRANTED.


Death Watch (Note: The BOP press website announces BOP COVID-related deaths here.) Today, the BOP announced no new COVID-related deaths, leaving the total number of inmate COVID-related deaths at 312. Eleven of the inmates died while on home confinement. Staff deaths remain at 7

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