ACLU, NAACP among those pressing Biden to grant clemency to inmates sent home during COVID

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of criminal justice advocates are asking President Joe Biden to grant clemency to federal prisoners who were allowed to serve their sentences at home because of the pandemic but now face the possibility of going back to prison.

"This is your opportunity to provide second chances to thousands of people who are already safely out of prison, reintegrating back to society, reconnecting with their loved ones, getting jobs and going back to school," stated the letter Monday from 20 advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and NAACP, which asked Biden to exercise his broad presidential powers by commuting the inmates' sentences.

Advocates have been pushing Biden to aggressively use his powers, including by granting clemency to hundreds of incarcerated women, citing his campaign promise to cut the federal prison population.

A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

As of Monday, about 2,000 prisoners who were sent to home confinement last year to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside prison walls will be potentially sent back, although the Bureau of Prisons has the discretion to keep inmates at home if they're nearing the end of their sentences.

Federal law allows prisoners to serve either the remaining 10% or six months of their sentence, whichever is shorter, through home confinement. Last year, the Trump administration, under a coronavirus relief law, allowed about 24,000 nonviolent prisoners who had not met this criteria to serve their sentences at home. But a Justice Department memo issued in January says inmates whose sentences will extend beyond the pandemic must be brought back to prison.

A vast majority of these inmates have either finished their sentences or have met the 10% or six-month threshold within the past year.

More: Inmates sent home during COVID-19 got jobs, started school. Now, they face possible return to prison

Advocacy groups have urged the Justice Department to rescind the legal memo, but officials did not believe the issue was urgent. The Justice Department said in May that inmates with years left to serve are not likely to be sent back to prison anytime soon because the public health crisis is expected to last for the rest of the year. But ramped-up vaccination efforts and reopening of cities have set off alarm bells among prison advocates.

Inimai Chettiar, federal director of the Justice Action Network, said the groups are putting pressure on the White House after "lack of action and lack of response" from the Justice Department.

Udi Ofer, deputy national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union, noted that Biden ran on a promise to reduce the federal prison population. "Now is his opportunity to make good on that commitment."

"These individuals had to meet numerous stringent requirements set by the administration to be allowed to enter home confinement, including that they will not be a risk to public safety," the letter said.

Of the 24,000 prisoners who were allowed to go home last year, 151 – less than 1% – have violated the terms of their home confinement and three have been arrested for new crimes, according to statistics cited by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during a congressional hearing in April.

Gwen Levi, who was allowed to go home last year and had four years left in her sentence for drug charges, said inmates and families "deserve peace of mind."

Levi was re-arrested last month after going to a computer class, believing she had been cleared to do so, and missed phone calls from officials supervising her home confinement. A Bureau of Prisons report called the incident an "escape."

Levi has since been freed after a federal judge granted her request for compassionate release, a process that allows inmates to be eligible for early release if there are compelling circumstances, such as advanced age and sickness. Levi is 76 and is in remission from lung cancer.

"I am glad to be free now, but I know what all the other families are dealing with," Levi said. "The president should take action now."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden pressed to grant clemency to inmates sent home during COVID