Letter to Joe Biden, President of the United States - Congresswoman Watson Coleman Leads Bipartisan Letter Calling on President Biden to Reverse "Cruel" Trump Justice Department Legal Memo

Letter

Dear President Biden:

We are writing to you today to urge you to reverse the Trump administration's cruel and
misguided decision to require thousands of people currently serving on home confinement to
return to federal prison. Such a move would harm families, waste tax dollars, and undermine
public safety.

Last March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or
CARES Act, to provide emergency assistance to the states and individuals. The law included a
provision to allow the Attorney General to expand the amount of time people in federal prison
could spend on home confinement. Typically, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is authorized to send
someone to home confinement only at the very end of their sentence. Congress's decision to
expand the period of home confinement to help mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in federal
prisons saved lives. Since last March, the BOP placed nearly 22,000 people on home
confinement, with more than 7,500 currently on home confinement.

On January 15, 2021, in the waning days of the Trump administration, the Justice Department's
Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo arguing that the CARES Act requires the BOP to return
those serving extended home confinement terms back to federal prison. We believe this memo is
wrong as a matter of law -- the CARES Act includes no such requirement -- and harmful to the
wellbeing of thousands of families and communities.

The vast majority of those people on home confinement today have reunited with their families
and are working and contributing to society. They were not told they would have to return to
prison and forcing them to do so would be cruel and devastating. You rightly pledged to reduce
the federal prison population. Sending thousands of people back to federal prison who have
already proven that they do not need to be there would undermine this commitment and would
undermine, not advance, public safety.

Rather than follow through on the Trump administration's misguided scheme to send people
back to prison, we urge you to use your executive clemency authority or direct the Justice
Department to seek compassionate release for people who have demonstrated that they no longer need to be under federal supervision. Reducing sentences for those who have successfully
reintegrated into their communities would keep families together, save money, and improve
public safety.

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