Post-Election Period Will Bring Big Changes on Sentence
Relief
By Derek Gilna
After the
November election, there is a strong possibility that sentence relief will be
on the agenda. The bills currently in
Congress, which, like all pending legislation have languished because the
members of Congress are more involved in keeping their jobs (getting
re-elected), than helping prisoners, should be given prompt consideration for
possible action.
All of the
bill’s sponsors either have “safe’ seats or not up for reelection in this
election cycle, so the usual political factors will not be crucial in whether
these bills pass or not. Having been in Washington BOP either in Congress or in the DC
courts; the environment for relief has never been better. It appears that
white-collar prisoners will also be getting some relief at the hands of the
Sentencing Commission in the next cycle, and we will pass on information on
that when it is confirmed.
One of the
things that shocked me is that more people are not taking advantage of
compassionate release opportunities. Recently a report has been released by the
United States Inspector General outlining the failure of the BOP
to release prisoners in a timely fashion under its “Compassionate Release
Program.” I’m sure some of you have seen notices about compassionate release
posted on bulletin boards in the units, along with other BOP
news, and you might not have paid much attention to it.
However, as
with many BOP “programs,” there’s one
problem: hardly anyone is getting taking
advantage of the program. However, I recently successfully completed one. This is ot a process for inexperienced
individuals. According to the Inspector General, who works independently of
other government agencies, and certainly not for the Justice Department, only
142 prisoners were released under the program, over a five-year period. This
despite the fact that studies show that these prisoners almost never reoffend.
This is out of a prisoner population of around 220,000 in the federal system,
many of whom are ill, and not receiving proper medical care.
For
many years, when the federal government and the BOP
was flush with cash, this was not an issue. Now, with money having to be
diverted from other federal agencies to the BOP
to keep guards on the job, Congress has made it their business to get
involved. They don’t want to fund the BOP ’s
obvious and well-publicized inefficiencies in releasing prisoners with
expensive health issues that cost the government millions of dollars a year.
Perhaps
you or someone you know qualifies for this program. I would welcome the opportunity to represent
you in this endeavor to win an earlier release, as well as explore other
options for release.
