Compassionate Release COVID

Welcome to Federal Lawyers. Our goal is to give you the information you need so you can make smart decisions about your case and your future. If you’re searching for answers about compassionate release and COVID, you’re probably hoping the pandemic changed something fundamental about how the federal prison system treats sick inmates. It did change things – for about two years. Then the system found new reasons to say no.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth nobody advertises: before the First Step Act passed in 2018, only 24 federal inmates per year received compassionate release. Not 24 percent. Twenty-four people total, out of more than 180,000 federal prisoners. The Bureau of Prisons denied 94% of all requests internally, and the ones they denied never even reached a judge. The DOJ’s own Inspector General found “terminally ill inmates dying before their requests were decided.” That’s not a broken system – that’s a system working exactly as designed.

COVID exposed this cruelty on a massive scale. Suddenly thousands of inmates had legitimate, documented risk factors. Filings increased by 10,000%. Courts that had rubber-stamped denials for decades started granting releases. For a brief window, “extraordinary and compelling” actually meant something. Then the vaccines arrived, the emergency faded from headlines, and courts found their old habits again.

24 People Per Year: What “Compassionate” Actualy Meant

Heres the history most compassionate release articles skip over. Before December 2018, only the Bureau of Prisons Director could file a motion asking a court to reduce someones sentence for compassionate reasons. Not the inmate. Not there lawyer. Only BOP.

Think about that structure for a second. The agency running the prison had to ask the court to let someone leave the prison. Every release was an admission that BOP couldnt adequatly care for that inmate. Every release created paperwork, liability questions, and the implication that maybe the sentence was to long in the first place. BOP had every incentive to deny and no incentive to approve.

So they denied. From 2013 to 2017, only about 6% of compassionate release requests were approved by BOP and forwarded to courts. The other 94% died in administrative purgatory. Inmates filed requests, waited months for responses, got denied, appealed internally, waited more months, got denied again, and eventualy died – still waiting.

The DOJ Inspector Generals report documented this in brutal detail. Terminaly ill inmates. Dying. Before there requests were decided. Not becuase courts rejected them. Becuase BOP never bothered to forward them.

Thats what “compassionate release” meant before COVID. It was a legal fiction. A pressure valve that was never actualy opened.

The 30-Day Bypass Congress Had to Create

The First Step Act changed something important. Starting in late 2018, inmates could file there own compassionate release motions directly with the court – but only after one of two conditions. Either they had to fully exhaust BOPs administrative process, or they had to wait 30 days from when they submitted a request to the warden.

OK so why did Congress include that 30-day bypass? Becuase they knew BOP would never actualy process requests in good faith. The exhaustion requirement was a nod to administrative procedure. The 30-day bypass was Congress admiting that BOP couldnt be trusted.

Thirty days is still to long for some dying inmates. But its infinitly better then the old system, where BOP could sit on requests indefinately. Now at least theres a clock. File your request to the warden on Day 1, and on Day 31 you can go directly to the judge – weather BOP responded or not.

Heres the kicker though. That 30-day period still kills people. An inmate diagnosed with terminal cancer in week one might be dead by week five. The bypass helped, but it didnt fix the fundamental problem: the system is structured around administrative conveniece, not medical urgency.

Federal Lawyers has seen clients file there warden requests and start the 30-day clock, only to deterioate so rapidly that by the time they could file in court, they were to sick to meaningfuly participate in there own case. The system dosent account for the fact that dying dosent follow bureacratic timelines.

84% Denial: The Math That Governs Your Motion

Lets talk about current numbers. According to U.S. Sentencing Commission data, approximately 16% of compassionate release motions are granted. That means 84% are denied. Five out of every six people who file – after meeting the exhaustion requirement, after gathering medical records, after writing there motion – get told no.

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Those arnt great odds. But there worse then they look, becuase the 16% includes all the cases with the strongest facts. Terminal cancer with weeks to live. Conditions so severe that even government prosecutors dont object. If your case is anywhere near the margins, your actual odds are lower then 16%.

Legal Scenario: What Would You Do?

Scenario

Your father is 67 years old and serving a 15-year federal sentence for a non-violent drug offense. He has severe COPD and diabetes, and after watching other inmates receive compassionate release during COVID, you want to know if he still has a path to early release.

Can my father still get compassionate release based on his health conditions now that the COVID emergency is over?

Attorney's Answer

Compassionate release remains available under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), but courts have largely returned to pre-pandemic standards, meaning COVID alone is no longer considered an extraordinary and compelling reason for release. Your father would need to demonstrate that his medical conditions are serious enough that he cannot receive adequate care within BOP facilities, independent of any pandemic-related argument. He must first exhaust administrative remedies by requesting release through the warden and waiting 30 days before filing a motion directly with the court. Given his age and multiple chronic conditions, he may qualify under the U.S. Sentencing Commission's updated policy statement in §1B1.13, which now recognizes certain medical circumstances and age-related decline as extraordinary and compelling reasons warranting a sentence reduction.

This is general information only. Contact us for advice specific to your situation.

Heres were it gets frustraiting. Courts cite “public safety concerns” in 39.8% of denials. Nearly 40% of the time, the reason your dying in prison instead of with your family is that a judge decided you might be dangerous – even if your 70 years old, wheelchair-bound, and convicted of a non-violent offense.

Think about the absurdity. Your asking to be released becuase your to sick to survive prison. The court agrees your sick. But they deny you becuase your also aparently to dangerous to release. Those two things dont fit together, but they dont have to. The court has discretion, and discretion means they can say no for almost any reason.

our lead attorney has watched this play out in cases that make no logical sense. An elderly inmate with stage four cancer. A defendant who served 90% of there sentence. A person whose “violent” offense was a bar fight thirty years ago. Denied for public safety. The label follows you forever.

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