April 22, 2020–Due Process Institute is part of a bipartisan coalition urging Congressional leaders in the respective Judiciary Committees to open up the compassionate release provisions in the First Step Act to a larger group of people. Due to a technicality, anyone currently incarcerated who was sentenced before parole was eliminated in 1987 can only ask for relief from the Parole Commission–they cannot seek compassionate release from the Bureau of Prisons or from a court. This issue is particularly important today as many of these people are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. They are an aging population and have all served at least 30 years of their sentences already. A simple amendment to the First Step Act would allow them to apply for compassionate release to the BOP or a court–at least a fighting chance.
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