Washington, A federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU, contends that the failure by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to implement the First Step Act according to its plain language violates the rights of thousands of people who should be returning to their communities and rebuilding their lives, but instead remain incarcerated.
The suit alleges that the BOP is unlawfully incarcerating people longer than the law allows under the First Step Act.
Signed into law in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, the bipartisan First Step Act was designed to reduce the population in federal prisons, reform extreme sentencing laws, and provide programming and reentry transition services to people in prison. Central to the First Step Act is a system of earned time credits, which allows people in prison to earn time off their sentences and time out of prison by participating in rehabilitation programs.
Through the First Step Act, Congress unambiguously ordered BOP to move people out of prison when they meet certain requirements to use their earned time credits. Instead of faithfully following the mandatory law, BOP adopted a regulation treating the law as optional. As a result, thousands of people, who should already be back in their communities and with their families, remain in prison.
“Every extra unlawful day our clients spend in prison is a serious injustice,” said Emma Andersson, deputy director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the ACLU. “It is egregious that the Bureau of Prisons is imprisoning people for months longer than the law allows. The government must follow through on its legal obligation to get people out of prison on time and back into their communities, where they belong.”
“Time is what I owed for my wrongdoing, and I have paid my time. But I should not have to spend more time in prison than the law allows,” said Vanessa Crowe, the plaintiff in the suit. “I often reflect on what I will miss during the months after when I should be out of prison.”
Crowe said that she will miss work and lose out on wages that could have helped her get back on her feet.
She added, “But most of all, I will miss more precious time with my family. My family and I are ready to tum the page on this period in our lives — we are all ready to start a new life, a life with purpose, hope, and healing together. I want to start that life when I am legally entitled to start it—not five months later.”
According to Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at ACLU of D.C., “There’s no excuse for the Bureau of Prisons to pretend not to understand Congress’s clear command that people who have earned the right to early release must be released. This law has been on the books for six years. The Bureau of Prisons has had plenty of time to understand it. Law enforcers should obey the law.”
Betsy Henthorne, partner at Jenner & Block added, “It has been six years since the First Step Act was signed, but despite Congress’s clear directives, the Bureau of Prisons continues to hold thousands of people in prison longer than the law allows. We should and do expect better—it’s past time for the BOP to ensure that those who have earned their release are able to return home to their families and communities according to the law Congress passed.”
