If Biden Is to be Successful in Justice Reform, His Top Priority Must be to Limit Prison Secrecy'; DOJ Quietly Rolls out Vaccines in Some Prisons, Without Studying Long-Term Effects on Its Recipients Who are Already Ill
by Derek Gilna
On this
Federal district courts, flooded with compassionate release petitions, struggle not only with the processing of these filings, but also making sense of the calculating misstatements (and omissions of material facts) provided by DOJ to judges trying to find the truth. (If DOJ's methods are working so well, why the hush-hush, publicity free vaccinations of sick people, contrary to every medical expert's advice.) The Biden administration can bring an end to the peddling of these taxpayer-funded falsehoods by ripping off the veil of secrecy protecting both the federal and state prison systems, and mandating increased oversight and public access to prison operations. What he does in this and other areas will determine whether he really means what he says about reforms, or is all talk. With Democrats controlling Congress and the Presidency, he has no excuses.
The ongoing FCI Waseca litigation is exhibit A for this need for change. Although the most recent order of the magistrate judge recommends denial of both the writ of habeas corpus and for a temporary restraining order on behalf of the proposed class, the government response is replete with inaccuracies, which still provide a rare window into its failures to properly handle the crisis. The judge comments speak more to the considerable procedural challenges of combining a habeas filing with injunctive relief in a class action, rather than to the merits of the well-drafted complaint.
Meanwhile, while DOJ congratulates itself on its response to the crisis, the virus rages on in federal medical centers, like Rochester, Devans, Springfield, and Carswell, with Rochester holding the dubious distinction of 395 confirmed cases of Covid-19 (74 still recovering) out of 623 people. Carswell has at least 60 new cases, while across the system counts continue to rise despite DOJ censorship. As disease counts drop in the public at large, those affected in the prison system continue to rise and fall, showing that the "action plan" is only propaganda.
Out of the
public eye, the U.S. Supreme Court has new pending petitions important to prisoners, some of which concern application of the First Step
Act (FSA).In Terry v United States, 20-5904, the justices agreed to weigh in on a technical
sentencing issue that has significant implications for thousands of inmates:
whether a group of defendants who were sentenced for low-level crack-cocaine
offenses before Congress enacted the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 are eligible
for resentencing under the First Step Act of 2018. In
The Third
circuit ruled in an interesting white-collar case,
For those of you who feel that the new vaccines might hurt your pending or future CR petitions, note the following: (1) no clinical studies (regardless side effects or safety) have been done on the effect of a vaccine on Immunocompromised individuals; (2 "Live attenuated vaccines carry the risk of converting to pathogenic strains with particular risk in Immunocompromised patients." Note that in the outside world these vaccines are NOT being given to patients who have had or might have COVID-19. www.hematology.org. (Oh, and they must be administered properly and on a strict schedule to be effective, regardless of safety concerns.)
Concentrate not on the "Why," but the "How." Be not afraid and let not your heart be troubled.
