BOP Reopens Visiting Rooms and Starts Prisoner Transfers, Unleashing New Risks for Spread of COVID-19 Infection

 

Justice System Overwhelmed by COVID-19 and Compassionate Release (CR) Petitions

 

by Derek Gilna

 

            In these unsettled times, why should the "justice" system be any less turbulent?

Although the system has always been imperfect, at best, and far from color-blind, the fact remained that the mechanism remained intact. However, the federal district court system is now strained to the breaking point.   Court clerks are unable to docket mailed-in filings in a timely fashion,  taking days instead of hours. Judges and their law clerks are inundated with CR cases, and if they choose to read them, often issue form denials, without bothering to explain their decisions. Overworked public defenders have also not risen to the once-in-a-lifetime challenge.

            The outside world has reopened, with testing of even asymptomatic individuals, social distancing, sanitizing,  and mask-wearing, which has helped reduce infection counts. In a prison system that refuses to test all but the sickest, and is reopening to visitors in the near future and busing sick people to new institutions, this means that the virus will be with us into the new year. However, these climbing prison virus counts creates an opportunity for even the previously-denied petitioners to once again request CR, (after again sending the form request to the warden) citing the new facts.

            Waseca, Minnesota, now has a minimum of 50 new cases, and the local news media have taken notice. Terre Haute has well over a hundred cases and climbing. USP Lee has over 20 staffers infected. Seagoville is still a hotbed, as is Lompoc, and Forrest City, with numbers dropping, then climbing again. FMC Rochester has a lot of new cases apparently driven by transferees.  Those elsewhere deemed "recovered" continue to suffer, with no medical care. The DOJ website shows increased number of infections.

            . Senator Elizabeth Warren, who would be expected to have a prominent role in a Biden administration, is not impressed with the DOJ actions: "The culture of secrecy that's been allowed to develop in the nation's prisons...is antithetical to (their status) in a democratic society.   We have...officials who act as if this is their private information."  

            In the circuits, in US v Bailey, 18-5607 (consol.), (6th Cir. 9-1-20), the court in a white-collar Medicaid case reversed  and remanded two sentences, for an incorrect calculation of a loss amount, as well as a miscalculation of a two-level increase for "mass marketing." In US v Seabrook, 19-436, (2nd Cir., 8-4-20) the court vacated and remanded a sentence handed down after a guilty plea to wire fraud, where the court erred by applying the commercial bribery guideline dropped by the government, an argument that should be applicable in other circuits. In a bit of good news, DOJ statistics show that those released early under First Step and COVI-19 criteria have largely NOT re-offended, despite DOJ fear-mongering in court filings. The ACLU found the same result in its July report, "Decarceration and Crime During Covid-19."

            If your institution is still afflicted with the Coronavirus, and even if you have already been denied for CR, consider refiling with the institution, citing new facts.   Also, if you are still eligible for 2255 relief for inadequate representation of counsel, seek help time  before your time expires. Be not afraid, and let not your heart be troubled.

Federal Legal Center, Inc., Derek A. Gilna, JD, Director,

113 McHenry Rd., #173, Buffalo Grove, IL   60089 (And Indiana), dgilna1948@yahoo.com; "Derek Gilna's Criminal Justice Blog. "