We Call for the Release of People at Heightened Risk of COVID-19

March 12, 2021–Due Process Institute and a bipartisan coalition joined to urge Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice to release federal inmates at greater risk of COVID-19 and health complications. Under relevant provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) can and should provide greater protection for older incarcerated individuals, expand home confinement and compassionate release to people with more time left on their sentences, and stop using infractions as an immediate disqualifier from release. Implementing these changes would allow for more at-risk individuals to qualify for release and would save countless lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.