From Families Against Mandatory Minimums (http://famm.org/):
Late yesterday, FAMM got some great news: Congress is (finally!) asking the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) some tough questions about why people die in prison instead of getting compassionate release.
For years, FAMM has been taking the BOP to task for denying compassionate release to federal prisoners with “extraordinary and compelling circumstances,” such as being elderly and ill, suffering from a terminal illness, or facing extreme family hardship. But the BOP’s answer to prisoners asking for compassionate release is almost always “No.” So we turned to Congress and have convinced the U.S. Senate committee that controls the BOP’s budget to require that the BOP explain itself.
It hasn’t been easy to interest lawmakers in compassionate release, but this budget breakthrough is a big deal. Here’s FAMM’s statement about what the committee did, and here are the questions the BOP is going to have to answer about compassionate release.
Stay tuned—we are not done yet.
Thanks for sharing your compassionate release stories with us and helping us in all that we do!
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