Highlighting how judges can now bring needed compassion to compassionate release after FIRST STEP Act

In prior posts, I have made much of a key provision of the FIRST STEP Act which allows federal courts to directly reduce sentences under the so-called compassionate release statutory provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(C)(1)(A).  This recent Reason article discussing the impact of this provision in a notable recent case from Montana.  The full title of this article serve as a summary of its contents: "A Terminally Ill, Wheelchair-Bound Inmate Applied for Compassionate Release. The Justice Department Argued He Wasn't Dying Fast Enough To Qualify. The FIRST STEP Act gives dying inmates the opportunity to appeal to a judge for compassionate release. This case shows why." Here are excerpts:

On Wednesday a judge ordered the release of federal inmate Steve Brittner, 55, under the new provisions of the FIRST STEP Act, a criminal justice bill passed late last year.  The judge ordered the release over the objections of federal prosecutors, who argued that Brittner, who is suffering from a malignant brain tumor, does not meet the "extraordinary and compelling" reasons to qualify for what's known as "compassionate release."

Brittner's case illustrates both the impact of the new law and the extraordinary hurdles terminally ill inmates and their families still face when trying to squeeze a small amount of mercy out of the federal government.

One provision of the FIRST STEP Act allows federal inmates to take their pleas to a judge if the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) rejects their petitions for compassionate release — a policy that is supposed to afford elderly and terminally ill inmates the opportunity to finish their lives among family and in relative peace....

"This is a very telling case," says FAMM president Kevin Ring.  "On one hand, the First Step Act's reforms to compassionate release worked as intended and this family prevailed.  On the other hand, it blows my mind that the Justice Department and BOP still fought tooth and nail to keep a low-level drug offender who is dying of brain cancer and bound to a wheelchair away from his family for the final weeks of his life.  They'll say they were just doing their jobs, but their job is to do justice."

A few prior related posts from before and after FIRST STEP :

• Compassionate release after FIRST STEP: Should many thousands of ill and elderly federal inmates now be seeking reduced imprisonment in court? 
• Sad start to what should become happier compassionate release tales after passage of FIRST STEP Act 
• Encouraging new reports about encouraging new compassionate release realities thanks to FIRST STEP Act 
• Federal judge pens extraordinary and compelling order requesting US Attorney to vacate old stacked 924(c) conviction in extraordinary and compelling case 
• New report assails (lack of) compassionate release in federal system
• DOJ review confirms government waste and mismanagement of BOP's handling of compassionate release
• Inspector General report highlights problems posed by aging federal prison population
• Another sad account of how US Bureau of Prisons administers compassionate release program
• Lamenting latest data on how federal Bureau of Prisons administers its compassionate release program