Compassionate Release During the Time of Covid-19 and the Response of Wardens in Utilizing it as a Means of Reducing Infections

The emergence of COVID-19 has ravaged through the United States generally and prison facilities in particular. By reducing prison populations and protecting a facility's most vulnerable members, compassionate release is a means of mitigating the consequences of COVID-19 facing prison facilities across the country. This thesis will examine compassionate release requests for the months of March 2020 through May 2020 from minimum and low-security prison facilities within the Bureau of Prisons. By examining this data, the goal of this thesis will be to determine whether the Bureau’s use of compassionate release was conducted in a manner that would protect the well-being of incarcerated individuals in response to the emergence of COVID-19. Similarly, the data will be examined in order to identify any significant differences between prison facilities in their use of compassionate release and subsequent outcomes from COVID-19 infections and deaths. Lastly, this thesis will examine this data to determine whether the Bureau’s use of compassionate release was consistent with the general objective of reducing prison populations and overcrowding in response to COVID-19.