The question in the title of this post is prompted by my persistent eagerness to see a lot more clemency activity from chief executives and also by this new story out of Illinois headlined “Protesters deliver Mother’s Day card to Pritzker’s house, demand release of incarcerated loved ones.”  Here are excerpts: Against a backdrop of bright pink tulips, protesters stood outside Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Gold Coast home on Friday with flowers, signs and a painted…

Alice Marie Johnson and Ja’Ron Smith have this notable new USA Today opinion piece headlined “COVID-19 concerns sent thousands of inmates home. Give clemency to those who deserve it.” The subtitle of the piece captures its themes: “Nearly 5,000 inmates may be sent back to prison. After rebuilding their lives, and being contributing members of society, how is being returned justice?”. Here are excerpts (links from original): This spring, as more Americans are able to…

I have been pleased to be able to blog about a significant number of significant circuit rulings on the reach and application of the sentence modification provisions amended by the federal FIRST STEP Act.  As regular readers know, in lots of (pre-COVID) prior posts, I made much of the provision of the FIRST STEP Act allowing federal courts to directly reduce sentences under the (so-called compassionate release) statutory provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)…

USA Today has this lengthy new piece highlighting the administration of home confinement in the federal system during the pandemic and the worries about a Justice Department memo which could return offenders to prison. I recommend the piece in full, which is headlined “Inmates sent home during COVID-19 got jobs, started school. Now, they face possible return to prison.” Here are some excerpts: In the weeks and months since he was sent home, RJ Edwards…

The day after Joe Biden was inaugurated as President, I authored this post posing a question in the title: “Anyone bold enough to make predictions about the federal prison population — which is now at 151,646 according to BOP?”.  That post highlighted notable numerical realties about the the federal prison population (based on BOP data) during recent presidencies: during Prez Obama’s first term in office, the federal prison population (surprisingly?) increased about 8%,…

I learned today via email about two notable new resources from the folks at the Urban Institute engaging with some of the intricacies of the prison reform elements of the FIRST STEP Act.  First, this posting by Emily Tiry and Julie Samuels, titled “Three Ways to Increase the Impact of the First Step Act’s Earned Time Credits,” suggests how this piece of the Act could be improved. Here is a snippet: The 2018 First Step…