Where democrats on the House Judiciary Committee look at the Trump Administrations response to the Coronavirus Spread in u. S. Prisons and jails. This will minimize any interruptions or noise. Im want do have my video feed on during the entire roundtable, but if you prefer to participate through just audio or if you would like to be visible only when it is your time to speak, you are welcome to turn off your camera at any time. I want to briefly explain how this will work. I will make a few opening comments, then chairman nadler will make a few comments. Our guests will follow with brief opening remarks, then the members will have opportunities to ask questions. This will allow for an informal giveandtake between members and our guests in contrast with the more rigid rules that apply during a formal hearing. I appreciate everyones time and i hope we can manage it efficiently. Im budget limit myself to just a couple of questions and i hope other members will also. I hope we can have a good conversation and wrap up by 5 30 eastern time. In advance fore your patience and i look forward to a good discussion. I will now make some opening comments. We have called this to bring let to the dangerous situation being experienced by prisoners and detainees in the bureau of and jailsd in prisons across the country as a result of the pandemic. Our task is urgent. There are tens of thousands of people in custody who are potentially in harms way because of the department of justice unwillingness to act to save lives. Today, the death toll in our prisons is at least 57 lives lost. I think that is undercount. The rate of infection is 6. 4 times greater than that of the u. S. Population. This is unacceptable. When we passed the cares act in march, when we gave them the opportunity and ample discussion to do the right thing and place on home confinement those most vulnerable to covid19, chairman nadler and i and members of the congress have written many letters urging aggressive action to ensure people are placed out of harms way. Rather than take heed and use their discretion, what we hear is that in many of the nations prisons, it has been business as usual. Toher than opening the door releases, there are barriers in the way of protecting the health and there are great inconsistencies between federal prisons. Since late last march, they have released less than 3000 prisoners into a home confinement. This is miniscule if you think there are over 150 prisoners in their custody. That when you think those that were already in the pipeline would have been released anyway. Thedoj has underutilized Authority Given to them. They have been derelict in their duty to prevent deaths in the facilities. Were also concerned about the staff and workers who must enter and work and facilities where covid19 is raging. We are concerned about the communities on the outside and the fact that they are bearing the brunt of this disease if you think that many if not most of the people who are incarcerated when they are released will come to the same communities that is experiencing a disproportionate death rate right now. They claim to have an action plan in place but it is hard to see how their actions are being considered. I am in los angeles and the federal prison here, the testing revealed that there were large numbers of prisoners infected with covid19. And another prison, the percentage of infected prisoners was 70 . Plann only hope i have a in place to release prisoners responsibly and protect the community. And protect the workers. Todays roundtable is an effort to call attention to this and other issues. I want to thank our guest today who are on the frontlines lines of the struggle to achieve justice for those in prison and a look forward to hearing what they have to say. I will now introduce todays guest. David patten has been the executive director and attorney in chief of the federal defenders of New York New York since july 2011. The defenders practicing at all levels in courts across the country have been on the front line of protecting the rights of individuals incarcerated during the crisis. Andrea james is the founder and director of the National Council on incarcerated women and formerly incarcerated women and works directly with persons impacted by the outbreak of covid19 in our jails and prisons. Angela cardwell is the daughter of a prisoner at a camp in texas. Living insychologist los angeles but she grew up in el paso. She will share what her father has experienced and what she has experienced during the crisis. We welcome our guests and we thank them for participating today. Ask our guests to share their perspectives with us. Will begin with you and we hope you will summarize and five minutes so we can have time for questions. Thank you so much for convening todays roundtable. Experts have been sounding the alarm about the humanitarian disaster in jails and prisons. Incarcerated people live, eat and breathe together by the dozens and unrestricted and unsanitary spaces. Is the opposite of social distancing. As of today, the rate of infection in federal facilities is six times the regular rate. At least 59 people have died in the custody of the dlp. In ohio, nine people have died. In north carolina, eight people. Louisiana, seven have died. There are many others. Those numbers do not include the many who as we sit here today who are hospitalized and on ventilators. The only responsible way to deal with this crisis is to identify Vulnerable People, people who pose a low risk of any danger to the community, and get them out. Andan be done responsibly consistent with Public Health protocol. Infectione rates of and mounting death toll, the doj and bureau of prisons are putting up roadblocks and a return. And would like the public to think that they are doing something. They issue memos and press like paulhen people manafort or michael are released. But out of the public spotlight where the best majority of people, they are doing nothing. And fact, they are doing worse than nothing and opposing release when Vulnerable People seek bail or compassionate release. Every day, prosecutors are going into courts around the country claiming that the dop has a meeting under control. That the positive test results are low. They of course never mentioned that the dop is only testing a tiny fraction of the people incarcerated. Federal prosecutors tell policy and procedure while ignoring the facts on the ground and the Court Ordered medical inspections which have found the jails and prisons engaged in a systemic failure. In courthouses around the country, as my colleagues and i attempted to get people out, we see the cruelty firsthand. We are not the only ones. Federal judges have referred to the doj and dop policies as an alarming,llogical, unfathomable, and shocking. I could go on. Federal judges are using those descriptors because more than two months into the crisis, the doj and dop still do not have any sense of urgency and transparency or a coherent system for releasing Vulnerable People. 2 dop has moved less than of the prison population and to home confinement. 111 ebsite touts a increase in home confinement. Paltryt shows is how their use of home confinement was prior to the crisis. Taking the battle to the appeals courts selectively courts that are available favorable to them. Members of the committee, i want to thank you for your efforts in passing the heroes act. I know you feel the same way we feel. That this crisis has become about more than dry legal concepts. It is about basic humid decency. Dop should have taken action long before march 28 when 49yearold Patrick Jones became the first to die. Death and others were enough, the death of a 30yearold, eight months tognant when she gave birth her child while on a ventilator before she died on april 28 should have been an immediate call to action. For doj and dop, it was not. Because they have proven they are unwilling to do the right thing, it is essential that Congress Give judges broader tools to responsibly release Vulnerable People quickly, regardless of dop or doj opposition. The heroes act does that. I think this body for recognizing the need to act and i hope your colleagues in the senate will follow suit. Thank you. Ms. James . We can hear you. Thank you very much for inviting us again to participate. We are the National CouncilMembership Organization of women in prison or formerly formally incarcerated. I want to make the point that we are on the front line and with women contact who are still there. Thank you again for allowing us to address this forum. For months, we have been juggling numerous calls per day from Family Members who do not understand why the dop will not let their elderly or ill Family Members come home. We have been inundated with countless stories from the women in federal prison that there scores have gone from low to high for no reason making them ineligible for release under the attorney generals directive. We have received countless emails saying that women are being quarantined in spaces that are not designed to house people such as visiting rooms and a kitchen. I am tired of reading statistics the one from danbury prison about the 159 reviewed for home confinement, only 21 have been given permission to go home. Im tired of the work we have to do to determine whether or not they have actually been released. Hasrdless of what congress legislated and the attorney general has directed, the dop staff have decided to make it nearly impossible for elderly and desperately ill people to get compassionate release and go home. Stappstance, danbury, started out by refusing to consider people for release if the pattern score was low, rather than minimal when s april general barr directive clarified the people who score was low were eligible, staff unilaterally increased scores without knowledge or justification to prevent them from qualifying. Staff that cause well told a group of women that they would be released to home confinement, but they needed to leave the Drug Recovery program and enter quarantine before release. Subject a completion full year off of a sentence. Then, the staff reported a change in doj policy that only people who had completed 50 of their sentence can be released to home confinement. The women who were no longer qualified were told they had to reapply and start the program over. Daily reports from the women of confusing and consistently change in policy. One woman incarcerated described the situation, she said i have kept a daily journal, the things are changing daily, the criteria changes hourly. I have a printout of requirements that were posted at 8 00 a. M. And they change by 11 30 a. M. The 8 00 a. M. Posting said 50 of time must be done, we are now confused as to what is required. Formerly incarcerated members at the National Council who is now an advocate, in held us with great concerns for women in general. Most importante programs for women who are reentering. She updated us today that there are people who are participating in the program which is now paused doodoo covid19 that will as a result end up serving. Ore time than they would have their incarceration would be extended by the number of months the program was paused. One facility violated the cares act by not allowing women to make free or video calls. The staff explained they could not figure out how to make these calls free and therefore they were not going to comply with the directive from the attorney general making the policy so that people could keep in touch with their families during lockdowns necessitated by the coronavirus. One case manager has denied the atease request from those high risk of covid19 complications who meet the attorney generals criteria and another case manager there would on the make one copy of a compassionate release request. Toll ofrials these policies are enormous. Is only 44, lisa who years old has stage four Breast Cancer and has been given 12 months to live. She cannot dress or wash yourself and is confined to a wheelchair when she has enough energy to get up at all. Advocacy, the warden agreed to home confinement, but the Regional Office would not approve release, so she could go home to die with her family. The reason given to a woman who is bedridden who can barely speak because of eight metastasized lump in her throat was that she might start trafficking oxycontin during her last month on this earth. This is not an oversight or a question of a release request falling to the crux. She has many advocates, including her congressman representative who has made inquiries into her case. The dop is actively refusing to release a dying woman. We received an update today that she is now struggling not to strangle in her saliva. There are three ways a person can get early release. One way is a transfer to home confinement under the elderly prisoner Pilot Program for those who meet the criteria. Another is release under the attorney generals directive. Then, compassionate release by court order. The first step act, a person may petition the Sentencing Court directly for release based on extraordinary and compelling circumstances after exhausting his or her administrative remedies. The statute is awkwardly written, but appears to mandate that a person petition the warden and if no answer is received after 30 days, the person can file a motion for release. If the warden denies the request within 30 days, the person has to go through the administrative appeals process which can take months. Ple who are born with vulnerable to covid19 cannot wait 30 days especially if the wer means no more waiting means more waiting. If the warden agrees, the release still has to be approved by other parts of the dop. If the warden says no, and a ministry of appeal is required. If the warden says nothing, the person must draft a motion and wait for the court to act. And 2018, 81 people died while they had compassionate release request pending and that was before covid19 struck. One crucial step in saving incarcerated people who are vulnerable to covid19 would be to remove the exhaustion requirement from the first step act. Introduced anave emergency at to streamline the compassionate release project. The standard for granting compassionate release, israordinary and compelling, high. The exhaustion requirement makes compassionate release essentially unobtainable. Congress wanted our people to releaseiable path to during this pandemic. As we continue at the National Council to be on the front lines in the fight to protect the human beings who are incarcerated during this pandemic, we will continue to be at the receiving end 40 phone calls from the families and documenting the desperate pleas from the women themselves and we will continue to do all we can to provide them with the support i need notwithstanding our overstretched staffing capacity and budget but we need help. Congress can help to fix this when we believe congress has a moral responsibility to do so. Thank you again for this opportunity. Caldwell . Thank you. This past march when covid19 started hitting the United States, people started asking when they would be going to school, whether their offices would be shut down, whether they would lose their jobs. My family started asking if we would lose our father. My dads name is thomas. He is incarcerated at a prison camp just outside of el paso, texas. It is a minimal security facility with mostly elderly, nonviolent firsttime offenders. There isnt even a fence around the campus. The inmates are all extremely low rates for recidivism. Otherwise they would not have qualified. These men are not hardened criminals. They pose no danger to the public. Theirre trying to pay debts to society quietly and honorably. My dad is 67 years old and has been diagnosed with advanced coronary artery disease. He suffers from high Blood Pressure and hypertension. Cdc, thisto the places him in the highest risk group for dying from covid. In late march, he suffered his fourth heart attack and was denied appropriate medical care. When he asked the staff to protect him from covid early on, they laughed at him and sent him back to his cell. My father was identified almost two months ago as high risk for contracting the virus. Two months ago, this government aid knowledged my father has a target on his back. Three days after the attorney to the dop,ctive the warden told these men that none of them would be getting out of his prison and if they died, it would be their own fault for committing a crime in the first place. My father applied for a transfer to home confinement immediately after the attorney generals directive on march 29. Two weeks later, he sent his transfer papers. My mother was contracted by contacted and her home was determined suitable. Later, on april 20, my fathers transfer was denied. There was a new requirement that he had to have served 50 of his sentence. Because of that threshold that has nothing to do with covid19 has of this betrayal, my fathers hopes for protection from his government were shattered. My family was devastated. My mother stop sleeping. On april 29, we requested a compassionate release and on april 30, we restarted the request for home confinement. Efforts initially appeared to be successful. Two days later, my father signed his transfer papers again. A few days later, my mother passed another Home Inspection and we could breathe again. Father was coming home where we can protect him from the virus. Ago,past monday, four days my father received notice that his compassionate release was denied because the prison was using other means to protect his safety. Tuesday, we got word that his transfer to home confinement had been denied again. That is three denials. Point, my father who has a perfect conduct record and is a model prisoner has been placed in solitary confinement twice in the last two months. Both times, he was not charged with a violation. His record remains spotless. Both times happened to be on the same day that i arranged interviews between him and the washington post. Both times, the warden placed a 67yearold man with a serious heart condition and a roach infested cell to block him from speaking to the press. My family got to go to bed that night with