inmate considered and must continue to act consistently with its obligation to preserve public safety. It was viewed 12 times while on Public Inspection. (last visited Apr. More contagious variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 could exacerbate the spread, and it is unknown whether currently available vaccines will be effective against new variants that may arise. 20. [53] Liesl M. Hagan Indeed, of the nearly 5,000 inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, as of January 8, 2022, only 322 had been returned to secure custody for any reason, and only eight for committing a new crime. Personal identifying information identified and located as set forth above will be placed in the agency's public docket file, but not posted online. Supervision staff monitor inmates' compliance with the conditions of home confinement by electronic monitoring equipment or, in a few cases for medical or religious accommodations, frequent telephone and in-person contact. documents in the last year, 1411 605(b)), reviewed this proposed rule and by approving it certifies that it will not have a significant economic impact upon a substantial number of small entities for the following reasons: This regulation pertains to the correctional management of offenders committed to the custody of the Attorney General or the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, and its economic impact is limited to the Bureau's appropriated funds. 47. [28] . These benefits include operational flexibility in managing BOP-operated institutions and cost savings for the Bureau. 3(b), 122 Stat. Id. Register, and does not replace the official print version or the official documents in the last year, 823 In addition, implementation of this interpretation is operationally sound and provides flexibility in managing BOP-operated institutions as well as cost savings for the Bureau. The authority citation for part 0 continues to read as follows: Authority: "CARES Act home confinement is, frankly, a black box," Guernsey, of the University of Iowa, said. Chris' books include Directory of Federal Prisons (Middle Street Publishing . O.L.C. NOTE: As of 12/21/2021, the OLC updated its guidance on home confinement. This proposed rule accords with OLC's revised views and codifies the Director's authority to allow inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act to remain in home confinement after the end of the covered emergency period. This proposed rule affirms that the Director has the authority to allow prisoners placed in home confinement under the CARES Act to remain in home confinement after the expiration of the covered emergency period. [4] 3624(g). It was created pursuant to the First Step Act of 2018. 2022-13217 Filed 6-17-22; 8:45 am], updated on 4:15 PM on Friday, March 3, 2023, updated on 8:45 AM on Friday, March 3, 2023. 56. Today I asked BOP what those crimes were and . available at https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/docs/bop_memo_home_confinement.pdf. 26, 2022). One of the vital tools in operating a correctional system is the ability to effectively manage bedspace based on the needs of the offender, security requirements, and agency resources. available at https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/7320_001_CN-2.pdf. documents in the last year, by the Energy Department establishing the XML-based Federal Register as an ACFR-sanctioned The term escape with prosecution indicates that a United States Attorney's Office has decided to prosecute an inmate for escape under 18 U.S.C. 13. 3624(c)(2).[15]. [3] daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov will remain an unofficial Early studies demonstrated that around 64 percent of persons incarcerated in BOP institutions who were offered COVID-19 vaccinations accepted them. These challenges include a high risk of rapid transmission due to congregate living settings, and a high risk of severe disease due to the high prevalence of pre-existing conditions and risk factors associated with severe COVID-19 illness in prison populations. 115-699, at 22-24 (The federal prison system needs to be reformed through the implementation of corrections policy reforms designed to enhance public safety by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal prison system in order to control corrections spending, manage the prison population, and reduce recidivism.). Courts have recognized the Bureau's authority to administer inmates' sentences,[54] The Baker Act prohibited the indiscriminate admission of persons to state Copenhaver, The Department expects these numbers will continue to fluctuate as inmates continue to serve their sentences and the Bureau continues to conduct individualized assessments to make home confinement placements under the CARES Act for the duration of the covered emergency period. Finally, as a practical matter, this interpretation permits the Bureau to consider whether returning CARES Act inmates to secure custody would increase crowding in BOP facilities and risk new, potentially serious COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons even after the broader national emergency has passed. 45 Op. . These indications of congressional intent further bolster the Department's view that any ambiguity in the CARES Act should be read to provide the Director with discretion to allow inmates placed in home confinement who have been successfully serving their sentences in the community to remain there, rather than return such inmates to secure custody 658-60 (According to the Bureau of Prisons, there is evidence to suggest that inmates who are connected to their children and families are more likely to avoid negative incidents and have reduced sentences. The documents posted on this site are XML renditions of published Federal Persons hospitalized in private or public hospitals were allowed only one individual with whom he or she could openly and privately correspond. What is home confinement? [47] 18 U.S.C. (GC 2022-D015) . According to the BOP, as of March 4, 2022, a small percentage of inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, around 3.7%, returned because of violations of the rules to supervision and only 8 were returned for new criminal conduct (6 for drug-related conduct, 1 for smuggling non-US citizens and 1 for escape). The governor signed Public Act 22-18 into law on Tuesday. rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not 281, 516 (2020) (CARES Act). 45 Op. O.L.C. 29, 2022); Nat'l Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Moreover, the 30-day grace period also applies to section 12003(c), which provides for free video and teleconferencing for inmates during the covered emergency period. The statute provides that an inmate placed in home confinement under this incentive program shall remain in home confinement until the prisoner has served not less than 85 percent of the prisoner's imposed term of imprisonment, and that the Bureau should provide progressively less restrictive conditions on inmates who demonstrate continued compliance with the conditions of prerelease custody.[51]. 35. 30. to rebuild ties between offenders and their families, while the offenders are incarcerated and after reentry into the community, to promote stable families and communities; . Memorandum for Chief Executive Officers from Andre Matevousian __, at *11-12. 29. step oneit must defer to the agency's interpretation as long as it is based on a permissible construction of the statute under This undercuts the rationale that Congress included the 30-day grace period for any particular reason other than administrative convenience. (last visited Apr. . As of April 26, 2022, over 988,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19. But the current opinion also explains the rationale underlying its See, e.g., The CARES Act authorizes the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to lengthen the amount of time a prisoner may be placed in home confinement beyond the statutory maximum normally allowed under 18 U.S.C. Such individualized assessments are consistent with direction the Bureau has received from Congress in other contexts. 657, 692-93 (2008). See Bureau of Prisons, Home Confinement Under the CARES Act at 2 (Nov. 20, 2020). Memorandum for Chief Executive Officers from Andre Matevousian The Final Rule becomes the law that the BOP will follow. see also Congress has explicitly provided the Bureau responsibility for maintaining custody of Federal inmates[52] documents in the last year, 517 .). Previous research has similarly shown that inmates can maintain accountability in home confinement programs. 102, 132 Stat. Chevron individualized determinations about the conditions of confinement for inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, as it does with respect to all prisoners,[27] In the alternative, written comments may be mailed to the Rules Unit, Office of General Counsel, Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street NW, Washington, DC 20534. The BOP had this authority long before the CARES Act, most recently updating its standards in 2019. Lompoc, California (DAS) - In May 2020, during the peak of the original COVID-19 national pandemic, the federal prison at Lompoc, California was 130% overcrowded. [13], Prior to the passage of the CARES Act, Congress had enacted three main sources of statutory authority to allow the Bureau to place inmates in home confinement as part of reentry programming. 3624(g). See 503 U.S. 329, 335 (1992); Accordingly, it is appropriate for the Department to consider whether the reintroduction into prison populations of individuals placed in home confinement, in part, upon consideration of their vulnerability to COVID-19[67] 13, 2020). [61] On June 21, 2022, the Federal Register issued a call for comments on a rule as how the BOP would end the program of transferring prisoners to home confinement upon the end of the CARES Act. 58. Register (ACFR) issues a regulation granting it official legal status. Start Printed Page 36788. Congress plainly intended the Department to use its discretion, drawing on the expertise of the Attorney General and the Director, to administer section 12003(b)(2) of the CARES Act. documents in the last year, 36 Office of the Attorney General, Department of Justice. 26, 2022). regulations.gov https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/pattern.jsp. The Effect of California's Realignment Act on Public Safety, In the SCA, Congress increased the Bureau's discretion to place inmates in home confinement in two ways. The complaint filed last week claims five migrants detained at the Nye County Jail and . 4001(b)(1), to codify the Director's discretion to allow inmates placed in home confinement pursuant to the CARES Act to remain in home confinement after the covered emergency period expires. The Proposed Rule concerns people that went to home confinement under the CARES Act. People are only pulled back into facilities from home confinement if they have violated the rules of the program. 45 Op. [59] available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/basics-covid-19.html [66] The second memorandum made clear that although the Bureau should maximize the use of home confinement, particularly at affected institutions, the Bureau must continue to make an individualized determination whether home confinement is appropriate for each 26, 2022) (Conditions of confinement do not afford individuals the opportunity to take proactive steps to protect themselves, and prisons often create the ideal environment for the transmission of contagious disease. Even after OLC issued this initial opinion, the Bureau's view remained that the stronger interpretation of the CARES Act did not require all prisoners in CARES Act home confinement to be returned to secure facilities at the end of the covered emergency period.[36]. step two. supporting this management principle. Indeed, of the nearly 5,000 inmates placed in home confinement under the CARES Act, as of January 8, 2022, only 322 had been returned to secure custody for any reason, and only eight for committing a new crime. 3624(c)(2)].[48] 29, 2022). For example, Congress has made clear that the Bureau must base its determination of an inmate's place of imprisonment on an individualized assessment that takes into account factors including the inmate's history and characteristics. BOP RE: 18 U.S.C. That provision also directs the Bureau to place prisoners with lower risk levels and lower needs on home confinement for the maximum amount of time permitted to the extent practicable. Second, Congress created a pilot program in the Second Chance Act of 2007 (SCA), which it reauthorized and modified in the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA), authorizing the Attorney General to place eligible elderly and terminally ill offenders in home confinement after they have served two-thirds of their term of imprisonment. The President of the United States issues other types of documents, including but not limited to; memoranda, notices, determinations, letters, messages, and orders. It is now well established that congregate living settings, and correctional facilities in particular, heighten the risk of COVID-19 spread due to multiple factors. See id. available at https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1457926/download The House of Representatives passed the First Step Act by a vote of 358 to 36, and the Senate passed the Act by a vote of 87 to 12. 18 U.S.C. Before the pandemic, the Bureau of Prisons had the authority to transfer inmates to home confinement for just the final six months of their sentences. See, e.g., United States 18, 2020); developer tools pages. On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared that a national emergency existed with respect to the outbreak of COVID-19, beginning on March 1, 2020. April 07, 2022. 64. As explained above, the proposed rule will also have operational, penological, and health benefits. should verify the contents of the documents against a final, official The new law sets criteria for the amount of time and the circumstances under which inmates at state prisons and jails can spend in isolation. 43. .). Federal Bureau of Prisons, Frequently Asked Questions regarding potential inmate home confinement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, documents in the last year, 859 See CARES Act sec. www.regulations.gov. These efforts were undertaken over years of bipartisan negotiations and garnered broad support across the political spectrum, beginning with the Second Chance Act of 2007 and 467 U.S. at 843. 3624(c)(2) after the expiration of the covered emergency period (or if the Attorney General were to revoke his findings). Such legislative efforts have been part of Congress's broader push to manage prison populations, facilitate inmates' successful reentry into communities, and reduce recidivism risk. After the placement is made, the Bureau's ongoing management of the inmate is further authorized by other Federal statutes.