We just found out that the Bureau of Prisons is STILL planning to send thousands of people back to prison when the pandemic is declared over! 

John, we worked hard all of last year to push the Biden Administration to rescind a Trump-era memo that said anyone who had been released to finish their prison sentences on home confinement because of COVID-19, would be sent back.

We rejoiced at the news that this memo had been rescinded right before the holidays as thousands of people were able to celebrate with their families and friends without the impending doom of one day returning to prison.

But, John, they wanted us to miss the fine print: Anyone on home confinement with “longer sentences” will in fact be once again ripped from their families and society and sent back to a cage when the pandemic is declared over. The BOP hasn’t even defined what a “longer sentence” constitutes yet, so people are still left in limbo about the fate of their future.

It is both cruel and inhumane to send people back to prison after they’ve already spent so much time safely and successfully at home: people have gotten new jobs, started school, been helping to take care of family and loved ones. This is another example of why home confinement will never be enough.

We need clemency for all those on home confinement now. 

sign the petition and demand clemency for thousands !

John, last year people like Kendrick Fulton got to celebrate Christmas with his mother for the first time in almost two decades. If Biden doesn’t grant him clemency, Kendrick will be one of the people who is sent back to prison when the pandemic ends. 

And while everyone we’ve spoken with on home confinement is grateful to be home with their families, they’ve also shared horror stories of the suffering and cruelty that comes with the carceral restrictions of home confinement. There have even been several instances where people were sent back to prison because of a bureaucratic error while on home confinement, like Gwen Levi, a grandmother who was deemed an “escapee” while attending a computer skills class. 

John, the new memo issued on home confinement would not only send anyone back with longer sentences, but it would also give the Department of Justice discretionary power to decide who will stay or be sent back to prison, keeping people vulnerable to re-incarceration.   

President Biden has the power to fix this. He promised us he'd cut the prison population in half and help put an end to racialized mass incarceration. And yet, he is dragging his feet on granting clemency to a group of people who have already proved that they are stronger at home with their families and communities.

If Biden is going to make a meaningful impact towards ending racialized mass incarceration, he needs to grant clemency to everyone living on home confinement today.

let's get people free!

Until Justice is Real,

Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Ariel, Madison, Trevor, Erick, Ana, Kristiana, McKayla and the Color Of Change team