Senators Durbin and Booker write to Prez Biden requesting "immediate action" to prevent home confinement cohort from facing return to prison

As detailed in this new Hill article, "two top Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are calling on President Biden to quickly adopt a plan to keep thousands of federal inmates who were transferred to home confinement during the pandemic out of prison."  Here is more:

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the committee's chairman, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who chairs a subcommittee on criminal justice, are urging Biden in a letter sent to the White House on Thursday to use the "ample executive authority" at his disposal to ensure that those on home confinement are not sent back to prison.

"Given the breadth of available executive authority, no person who has successfully transitioned to home confinement should be required to return to federal prison," Durbin and Booker wrote in the letter, which was shared with The Hill.  "The uncertainty of the current situation unnecessarily interferes with the efforts of those on home confinement to rebuild their lives and participate in our economic recovery.  With the goal of facilitating successful community reentry, we urge you to act immediately to resolve this issue and enable those on release to move forward with their lives."

The full two-page letter is available at this link, and here are excerpts:

We respectfully request that your Administration take immediate action to ensure that thousands of individuals who have successfully transitioned to home confinement from federal prison during the pandemic are not returned to prison without cause.  Your Administration has ample executive authority to immediately provide the certainty these returning citizens deserve as they reintegrate into their communities, reunite with their families, and join in rebuilding our economy....

On January 15, 2021, in the last days of the Trump Administration, the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum opinion entitled “Home Confinement of Federal Prisoners After the COVID-19 Emergency” (“OLC opinion”).  The OLC opinion incorrectly found that following the emergency period of the pandemic, BOP must recall federal inmates released to home confinement pursuant to the CARES Act and require these inmates to complete their sentences at BOP facilities. In fact, the CARES Act does not require or permit BOP to recall these prisoners.

On April 23, 2021, we asked Attorney General Garland to rescind the OLC opinion, and are awaiting his response.  However, the opinion does not prevent you from acting. We urge you to use your unfettered pardon power to immediately commute the sentences of those on home confinement pursuant to the CARES Act.  These individuals, who were released only after careful vetting by BOP, have successfully transitioned to home confinement.  They have reunited with family, obtained jobs, and are abiding by the conditions of their release.

Additional executive authorities are also available. BOP can provide relief for certain individuals through prerelease home confinement, under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(2), and the Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program, pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 60541(g). For those who do not qualify for those provisions, BOP can recommend, and DOJ should support, compassionate release pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A).  Compassionate release is authorized whenever extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant a sentence reduction, and the once-in-a-century global pandemic that led to these home confinement placements certainly constitutes such an extraordinary and compelling circumstance.

Some of many prior related posts:

• Notable OLC opinion on "Home Confinement of Federal Prisoners After the COVID-19 Emergency" 
• Spotlighting effectiveness of home confinement under CARES Act and concerns about OLC memo disruption
• Effective review of (just some) issues surrounding home confinement for the Biden Justice Department
• FAMM urges AG Garland to prevent those on home confinement during pandemic from being returning to federal prison 
• Notably advocacy for Prez Biden to use his clemency power to ensure those released into home confinement need not return to prison 
• Why aren't there much stronger calls for CONGRESS to fix post-pandemic home confinement problems?
• Hoping grandmothers and others on home confinement get compassionate consideration
• New York Times reporting Biden Justice Department agrees with OLC memo stating prisoners transferred to home confinement must return to prison after pandemic ends
• Home confinement cohort at risk of being returned to federal prison garnering still more attention (but still little action) 
• Advocacy groups argue to DOJ that OLC home confinement memo is "incorrect" and should be rescinded