Action beginning on Biden clemency plan for some drug offenders in CARES home confinement cohort

As discussed in this post from late last month, there has been talk that Prez Biden might use his clemency powers to help ensure that some member of the CARES home confinement cohort does not have to return to prison after the pandemic.  This new Politico piece, headlined "Biden starts clemency process for inmates released due to Covid conditions," reports on new action on this front:

The Biden administration has begun asking former inmates confined at home because of the pandemic to formally submit commutation applications, criminal justice reform advocates and one inmate herself tell POLITICO.

Those who have been asked for the applications fall into a specific category: drug offenders released to home under the pandemic relief bill known as the CARES Act with four years or less on their sentences.  Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice clarified how many individuals have been asked for commutation applications or whether it would be expanding the universe of those it reached out to beyond that subset.  But it did confirm that the president was beginning to take action.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is working hard every single day to reform our justice system in order to strengthen families, boost our economy, and give Americans a chance at a better future," said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. "As part of this, President Biden is deeply committed to reducing incarceration and helping people successfully reenter society.  As he has said, too many Americans are incarcerated -- and too many of those incarcerated are Black and Brown. That is why the President is exploring the use of his clemency power for individuals on CARES Act home confinement. The Administration will start the clemency process with a review of non-violent drug offenders on CARES Act home confinement with four years or less to serve.”

The requests from the administration are a concrete sign that the president is planning to use his clemency powers to solve what was shaping up to be one of the thornier criminal justice matters on his desk. The New York Times previously reported that such requests for applications would be coming....

“While we are excited to hear the Biden administration is actively seeking clemency petitions for non violent drug offenders, we pray he will not carve up CARES Act recipients into small subsets,” said Amy Povah, a former prisoner who has become a well known clemency advocate.  “No other president in history has been handed a 'dream come true' opportunity to easily identify a large group of individuals who have already been vetted and successfully integrated into society, many of whom are now gainfully employed, found housing, and are healing the family unit that was injured due to tough-on-crime sentencing policies that previous administrations have acknowledged are horribly unjust.”

Rachel Hanson, 37, was one of those paroled inmates who was at risk of being sent back to her federal facility.  She was 8.5 years into a 151 month sentence for charges of possession with intent to distribute an unspecified amount of cocaine.  She had been released from prison in August of 2021 under the CARES Act but kept in home confinement wearing an ankle monitor.  She was contacted by her case manager on Friday, who told her that her name was submitted by the Department of Justice for expedited clemency and that she needed to fill out her clemency packet right away.

She described the events of the past few days as a blur. “I was so surprised,” she said. “I didn’t expect it.  You hear about clemency. You know it happens to people but you don’t always see.” Hanson has three children, one of whom is a senior in high school. She has a job interview lined up for Tuesday for a production coordinator post at a welding factory.  She has to rush to get her clemency packet completed first....

Udi Ofer, the ACLU’s deputy national political director, said that while he was heartened that the administration was now acting, he faulted the administration for acting in a less than transparent way with advocates and advocacy groups in the criminal justice space.  He said he was troubled by the possibility that it was cleaving off CARES Act recipients into those deserving commutation and those who didn’t.  He noted that the Bureau of Prisons, in originally releasing inmates under the CARES Act, had already made a determination between those who posed a threat of violence and those who didn’t.  “On the other hand, through the anecdotal information we’re seeing, we are worried that the White House is viewing this issue too narrowly and unnecessarily restricting the category of people being asked to apply for clemency,” said Ofer.

Some advocates for clemency and other forms of sentence reduction also expressed concern that the Biden administration’s move essentially put it in the position of working from a list developed by the Bureau of Prisons during the Trump administration, in a process critics said lacked clear guidelines and transparency.  “It’s not clear how the Bureau of Prisons chose people for this home confinement program, which raises the question of whether it’s fair to give a special benefit to these folks not available to those who have filed clemency petitions sometimes years ago and have been patiently waiting,” said Margaret Love, who served as Justice Department pardon attorney under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

I am very pleased to hear of some tangible developments on this long-simmering front, though I would really now be eager to see some detailed accounting of how many members of the CARES home confinement cohort are drug offenders with four years or less on their sentence.  I am also not going to expect or assume that Prez Biden is going to grant clemency to a notable number of individuals until he actually grants clemency to a notable number of individuals.  And I hope this process might prove transparent along the way (as well as robust and just the start of  overdue clemency efforts).

I am now wondering about the expected specifics of clemency grants by Prez Biden for some members of the CARES home confinement cohort.  Through clemency, Prez Biden could shorten the prison terms of individuals so that they have no more time left to serve in prison or on home confinement.  I am assuming that is the working plan, though I think Prez Biden could also opt to just convert remaining prison terms into time to be served only and entirely on home confinement.  As I have highlighted in prior posts here and here, many member of the CARES home confinement cohort could be bringing sentence reduction motions under the (so-called compassionate release) statutory provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), and it is interesting to think how pending clemency talk and coming action might impact efforts to secure relief through the courts.

Interesting times.

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 
• Senators Durbin and Booker write to Prez Biden requesting "immediate action" to prevent home confinement cohort from facing return to prison 
• Still more attention (and some helpful action) for the home confinement cohort
• Prez Biden reportedly considering, for home confinement cohort, clemency only for "nonviolent drug offenders with less than four years" left on sentence