FAMM writes to DOJ and BOP to spotlight and lament "ineptness, if not the downright cruelty displayed by the BOP"

FAMM President Kevin Ring today sent this potent three-page letter to US Attorney General William Barr and BOP Director Michael Carvajal.  I recommend the letter in full, and here are some key paragraphs:

Yesterday, we received reports from dozens of people around the country that their loved ones, quarantined with the explicit understanding that they would move to home confinement in two weeks, were instead returned to general population and told that the rules had changed and that they were no longer going home.  At some facilities, family members had already arrived to pick up their loved ones whose quarantine period was ending.  These families were turned away. Many more families received phone calls from crying loved ones informing them that their release date had been revoked because of the abrupt change in rules.

If this were the first time something like this had happened, I might have found it heartbreaking but also a sign that the BOP was still finding its way in dealing with this crisis. But, because we have received identical accounts on multiple occasions over the past couple of weeks, I find myself baffled at the ineptness, if not the downright cruelty displayed by the BOP.  Families with loved ones in BOP facilities are already worried and anxious because of the rising number of COVID-19 infections and deaths.  They are desperate to get their loved ones home, especially those who are medically vulnerable.  To have the promise of early release snatched away under these circumstances is simply inexcusable.  They deserve to know what is happening.

Even before yesterday’s outrageous bait-and-switch, we were growing concerned with the BOP’s response to this crisis.  We have received numerous reports about case managers and counselors giving incorrect information and contradictory answers to people exploring early release options....

Tens of thousands of families across the country are deeply and understandably frightened for the health and safety of their incarcerated loved ones.  The people inside BOP’s facilities are confused, frightened, and vulnerable.  They deserve maximum transparency from the BOP.  Above all, they deserve that you act as Congress intended in the CARES Act: to protect vulnerable people in your care or send them home.

UPDATE: Politico has this new piece providing some more details under the headline "Trump administration reverses prisoner coronavirus release policy, advocates say."  Here are excerpts:

A coronavirus-related policy shift that could have cleared the way for thousands of federal prisoners to be sent home early was abruptly reversed this week, according to friends and family members of inmates.

Prison officials indicated earlier this month that inmates who had served less than half their sentences could still be considered for early release to limit the spread of infection behind bars. However, inmates in various prisons who had been put into prerelease quarantine almost two weeks ago were advised Monday by authorities that the policy had changed, lawyers and associates said. Officials would not waive a requirement that prisoners must have completed 50 percent their sentence to be eligible for early release during the pandemic, the inmates were told.

It was not immediately clear whether the apparent reversal applied across the board or if officials might still waive the policy in the places where the virus has had the most severe impact.

Still, the decision could dash the hopes of several well-known prisoners seeking release from federal custody, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Neither man has served half his sentence....

Bureau of Prisons spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment for this report....

While the initial set of criteria for home confinement included a requirement that inmates had completed half of their sentences, prison officials were told by their superiors on April 9 that rule was expected to be dropped. The decision was cited in a declaration a Bureau of Prisons staffer submitted in connection with a lawsuit challenging the detention of inmates at a federal prison complex in Oakdale, La., that has suffered a serious outbreak of the virus.

That guidance led prisoners at a number of federal facilities nationwide to be put into prerelease quarantine around that date, according to family members of inmates. Some family and friends were making plans to pick up their loved ones this week. Others had purchased air tickets to return home, only to be told Monday that the expected releases had been scuttled.

“They just posted a new BOP Bulletin a few minutes ago, reversing the Barr decision and requiring that those released to home confinement must have served 50% of their sentence,” Stephen Donaldson, son of an inmate at a prison in Georgia, wrote in an email to POLITICO. “I was hoping to have my father home. He tells me a number of other inmates had started the quarantine pre release and then were told of the reversal.”