TERRY Set for May Supreme Court Argument on Crack-Law
Reform; DOJ COVID Statistics are Not Accurate; COVID-19, Still in Federal
Prisons, May be Joined by New Variants of the Virus
by Derek Gilna
The Supreme
Court of the United States (SCOTUS) as a result of the Biden administration’s
change in position in Terry v. United
States, rescheduled argument in that case
for May 4. At issue in the case is whether defendants who were sentenced for
low-level crack-cocaine offenses before Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act
of 2010 are eligible for lower sentences under the First Step Act of 2018. The
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers told the justices that their
review was essential “to ensure that Congress’s goal of alleviating the racial
disparities in sentencing caused by the 1986 law’s harsh sentencing regime is
realized,” and the expected favorable decision will open the gates for
thousands of crack resentencings nationwide.
Those who
follow this newsletter know that we spend a lot of time accumulating medical
research and institutional data documenting
DOJ's feeble response to COVID-19. One
of the most respected source of news on this subject is the non-partisan
Marshall Project, whose COVID-related data has found their way into numerous court
decisions. Heeding the drumbeat of
individuals like myself who have for months questioned the accuracy of
DOJ-reported data on illness and death from COVID, that organization announced
that it will no longer report DOJ-reported data, stating that it is clearly
understated, inaccurate, and meant to be misleading. "Coronavirus cases
inside prisons are still rising slowly...an accurate national count of positive
cases is no longer possible because the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which has
had more prisoners infected than any other corrections system, has removed from
its count prisoners released after contracting the virus." Marshall
Project, 3-26-21.
One of
the hardest hit federal prisons is located in Springfield,
Missouri, at the BOP's
Medical Center
for Federal Prisoners, which houses some of the nation's most medically
vulnerable inmates, with 18 deaths. FMC
Burner, FMC Carswell, FMC
Rochester, and FMC Devens all continue to
have numerous cases not only of COVID, but all the lingering systems known as
"Long Covid." Coleman and Schuylkill, both non
medical facilities, continue to have numerous COVID cases.
Nearly
50,000 federal inmates — about one-third the total federal inmate population —
have tested positive, as well as nearly 6,500 staff, DOJ data show. Tucson
prison, with ten deaths, recorded the third-highest number of positive COVID-19
cases compared to other federal prisons — 895 — surpassed only by the federal
prisons at Fort Dix, New Jersey,
with 2,014 cases, and Seagoville, Texas,
with 1,240 cases, DOJ data show.
The past
week Senators Durbin and Grassley
re-introduced "Smarter Sentencing Act" to reduce federal drug
mandatory minimums, and bring judicial discretion and flexibility to
non-violent drug charge sentencing. The bill is cosponsored by 11 of their
colleagues. I expect this bill to move quickly to passage and signature.
Unfortunately,
the DOJ's inability to contain COVID-19 is likely to aggravate the effects of
the so-called "New York
virus mutation." The coronavirus variant on the rise in New
York City and elsewhere contains the same E484K
mutation seen in variants in Brazil
and South Africa
believed to make COVID-19 vaccines and antibody therapies less effective, as
well as a mutation called S477N." Report by New York State Department of
Health researchers posted on Monday on medRxiv.
All versions of the variant circulating in New
York harbor a mutation called D235G that might reduce
the efficacy of neutralizing antibodies. The variant "has increased in the
circulating virus population in New York
state by almost 26-fold in a little over a month," the researchers said.
"The combination of E484K or S477N with a D253G mutation that might confer
immune escape, and the increased number of COVID-19 cases associated with these
variants, warrants further monitoring," they said.
(https://bit.ly/2ZYX0JM).
Michael D.
Cohen, MD, states that "February saw numerous reports about
mutations and new variants of the pandemic coronavirus. A variant called
B.1.1.7 was first identified in England (UK) last fall. B.1.1.7 spreads among
people more easily (is more infectious) and may also cause serious
illness more often. As of February 16,
2021, this variant has been identified in 42 states." Prison
Legal News, March, 2021.
COVID-19
has also shone a bright light on poor health care in Prisons and jails
According to "The Lancet," the leading
medical journal in the UK, "Prison health systems remain a weak
link in public health preparedness, racial and social justice, and human rights
... Humane and evidence-based prison health systems with community links will
improve public health within and outside prison walls, both for COVID-19 and
other health issues. Such an approach is key to the pursuit of a just and
equitable society. As Nelson Mandela said, ‘A nation should not be judged by
how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.’” The Lancet, Vol.
396No. 10266p1870, Published: December
12, 2020.
"Long
COVID" continues to gather attention and medical research reporting. As
reported in the Wall Street Journal on March
16, 2021, page A9, "In February, the National Institutes of
Health announced a major initiative to study long Covid, backed y $1.15
billion... ' Large numbers of patients who have been infected...continue to
experience a constellation of symptoms long past the time that they're
recovered from the initial stages...said Director Francis S, Collins. "
Mayo Clinic has developed a therapy for those individuals, but of course, the
chance of this being offered to prisoners is minimal.
Be not afraid,
and let not your heart be troubled.
Federal Legal
Center, Derek A. Gilna, MARJ, JD,
Director
113 McHenry Rd. #173, Buffalo Grove,
IL 60089
(and Indiana),
dgilna1948@yahoo.com;
blogging at "Derek Gilna's Criminal Justice Blog."
