Expansion of Compassionate Release for Federal Inmates
On April 5th, the U.S. Sentencing Commission approved the expansion of the guidelines that dictate federal inmates’ ability to qualify for compassionate release from prison for the first time since 2018. The commission, which consists of seven members, is an agency that was created by Congress in 1984 to “reduce sentencing disparities and promote transparency and proportionality in sentencing” by setting overarching sentencing guidelines for federal judges.
Compassionate release is defined as an immediate early release for inmates on the basis of circumstances, as outlined by specific criteria, that could not have been foreseen at time of sentencing. It differs from parole as it does not depend on an inmate’s behavior or sentence. Previous eligibility for compassionate release included medical circumstances, elderly inmates over the age of 65, the death or incapacitation of a caregiver for the child of the inmate, the incapacitation of a spouse or registered partner in the case of which the inmate was the only available caregiver, and extraordinary or compelling circumstances. In 2018, the First Step Act expanded the criteria for which sick and elderly inmates could be released, and granted the right to seek release directly to those inmates themselves. Requests for compassionate release increased dramatically during the COVID pandemic.
The new amendments expanded criteria to include: “unusually long sentences” in cases where the defendant has served at least 10 years and an intervening change in the law would have likely resulted in a shorter sentence if it had been in place at the time the sentence was determined, victims of sexual assault by a corrections officer, the death or incapacitation of a caregiver for any family member, and “any other circumstance or combination of circumstances that, when considered by themselves or together with any of the reasons” listed, are extraordinary or compelling. The amendments are set to take effect in November 2023.
In a statement regarding the reforms, Judge Carlton Reeves, the Commission Chairman, stated that “if you have spoken to the commission, whether from the halls of Congress or the desk of a prison library, you have been heard.”
While criteria and eligibility have been expanded, it is yet to be seen whether or not the number of inmates who are given a reduction of sentence or permitted a compassionate release will increase. Currently, compassionate release is seldom authorized and used across both state and federal systems. Kevin Ring, the president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, stated that the reform was a “big step in the right direction.” However, the U.S. Department of Justice opposed components of the amendment, stating that it would “greatly expand compassionate release in ways that Congress did not intend.”
An additional proposal for limits on federal judges from imposing longer sentences to defendants facing a split verdict was discussed but not yet determined. A split verdict occurs when a defendant is convicted of one or more charges but not all. Current practice permits judges to incorporate acquitted conduct in sentencing calculations, which could result in harsher sentencing for convicted conduct. The Department of Justice additionally opposed this proposal.
