Published on: Thursday, August 6, 2020

On August 4, 2020, the The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, American Civil Liberties Union, and the Federal Public and Community Public Defenders sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader McConnel, Senate Minority Leader Schumer, House Speaker Pelosi, and House Minority Leader McCarthy urging Congress to adopt critical provisions to protect the health and safety of incarcerated individuals in the COVID-19 response package currently being negotiated, such as: (1) provisions that will dramatically reduce pretrial and prison populations; (2) an expansion of court authority to release individuals in BOP Custody; (3) Increases in the availability of home detention for elderly people; (4) provisions that facilitate essential communication with counsel; and (5) additional support at the federal, state, and local level to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.