Stimulus Payment Applications Now Due 11-21-20; Paper Tax Returns Advisable
by Derek Gilna
November 21, 2020 appears to be the
new deadline for applications for 2019 non-filing prisoners to legally apply
for and receive the $1200 stimulus checks. Today it appears the most reliable
method of filing is to use a family member or close friend's address to
file a paper return. Prisons are getting the word to provide
these paper forms but it is ultimately up to you to get it done. My best guess
is that Treasury, who directly issues the checks, will NOT hold back any sums
due for restitution or child support.
As
expected, the transport of prisoners not tested for COVID-19 is spurring a
steady increase in infection rates within the federal prison system. Prisons like Waseca, Alderson, Rochester,
Pekin, and others, are experiencing
steady increases in cases, with at least one prisoner in Pekin,
where multiple units are locked down, on a hospital ventilator, indicating that
he received zero treatment before falling critically ill. Elkton, Pollock,
Oakdale, Carswell, and Butner, where the virus has allegedly peaked, are now
full of "recovered," chronically-ill prisoners whose life expectancy
is more problematic.
The DOJ
bureaucracy is currently in full cover-up mode also, with individual prisons
underreporting cases to national office, and stonewalling local media
understandably concerned about health threats to surrounding communities.
Sadly, Congressional members, more concerned about keeping their cushy jobs
than in helping prisoners, are doing little to stop this. However, one man also
up for reelection and his staff know EXACTLY what is going on and only waiting
for the appropriate moment.
In the
midst of this turmoil and confusion, prisoners ARE
still being released for Compassionate Release (CR), IF they have been denied
by their warden, and have medical proof. We can help. Although CARES releases
are tapering off, nothing like a well-drafted CR (which requires a letter from
the institution regarding medical, major discipline, and release location) to help getting more
than a few overlooked prisoners CARES consideration and release. (CARES denials
are not judicially reviewable.)
In the
circuits, the USDC for the Northern District
of Illinois, granted a 2241 petition on Mathis grounds, vacated a life term,
and ordered resentencing. Holmes v. Hudson,
19C 50154, 9-15-20. In the USDC
for the D of New Jersey, a prisoner at Ft Dix won relief, under FSA, by
successfully arguing that he was entitled to programming credits NOW,
not in 2021, destroying DOJ arguments to the contrary. Goodman v. Ortiz,
20-7582, 8-25-20.
In a
no-contact SO case, the 5th Circuit overturned a blanket prohibition of
post-release internet use, ruling that such conditions must be "narrowly
tailored either by scope or by duration." US v. Bacerra, 19-50447, 10-8-20. In the 10th Cir., the court ordered a
FSA resentencing after finding that a "district court (must) at least consider (a) claim that
sentencing him as a CO would be error given subsequent decisional law that
clarified the related CO provisions at issue." US v. Brown, 19-7039, 9-9-20.
Let not
your heart be troubled.
Federal Legal Center, Inc., Derek A. Gilna, JD, Director,
113 McHenry Rd. #173, Buffalo
Grove, IL
60089 (Also in Indiana)
dgilna1948@yahoo.com,
Blogging at "Derek Gilna's Criminal Justice" Blog.
