Public will have an opportunity to listen to our conversation. A lot of important work over the last few weeks responding to the covid19 crisis. This follows in the virtual roundtable held last week, ices response at the detention facility. Taking time to participate in this roundtable, i think everyone in advance for what we have. I will turn it over to the subcommittee chair. Thank you. At the outset i want to provide a few guidelines that will help this roundtable goes smoothly. I ask that everyone use their microphones unless it is your turn to talk. This will minimize any interruptions or stray noise. I will have my video feed on the entire roundtable. If you prefer to participate in this roundtable or 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 explain how the roundtable will work and make a few opening comments and chairman nadler will make the opening comments. We follow brief opening remarks and members will have an opportunity to ask questions. This will allow to an informal give and take between members and guests in contrast with more rigid rules that apply during a formal hearing. I appreciate the value of everyones time and i hope we can manage our time efficiently. I limit this to a couple questions and hope other members will too. I hope we can have a good conversation and wrap up by 5 30 eastern time. I thank everyone for your patience and look forward to a good discussion. We have called this roundtable to bring light to the dangerous situation being experienced by prisoners and detainees in the bureau of prisons and in prisons and jails across the country as a result of the covid19 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 justices unwillingness to asked to save lives. The death toll in our prisons is at least 57 lives lost and i think that is an undercount. The rate of infection within our federal correction facilities is 6. 4 times greater than that of the us population. When asked about the care packet march, we give them opportunity and ample discretion to do the right thing, place on home confinement those most vulnerable to covid19. Chairman nadler and i and many members of congress have written many letters urging aggressive action to ensure people our place out of harms way. Unfortunately, what we hear, and business as usual. Rather than opening the door to more releases, there are barriers in the way of taking appropriate steps to protect the health of individuals under their care and great inconsistency between federal prisons. Since late last march, we released 3000 prisoners into home confinement in this is a minuscule amount, 150 prisoners in their custody. It likely includes many in the pipeline to be released to home confinement or would have been released anyway. The fact of the matter is the doj significant the underutilize the Authority Congress granted to them under the cares act. It slow walked its response to covid19. At worst they have been derelict in their duty to prevent death and the facilities they operate. Also concerned about the staff and workers who must enter and work at facilities where covid19 is raging. And they are bearing the brunt of this disease. And the disproportionate death rate now. The action plan in place, they are by a well considered plan earlier this month, the prison in los angeles in the federal prison here, what is in Southern California the percentage of infected prisoners was 70 . And protect the workers. The roundtable is an effort to call attention to this and other issues. I want to thank our guests who are on the front lines of the struggle to achieve justice for those who are in prison. I look forward to hearing what they have to say. I will now introduce todays guest. David patton has been executive director and attorney in chief of the federal defenders of new york since july of 2011. The federal defenders as well as the public defenders practicing all levels in court across the country have been on the front line of protecting the rights of individuals incarcerated during this crisis. Andrea james is the founder and executive director of the National Council on incarcerated women and works directly with persons impacted by the outbreak of covid19 in our jails and prisons. The daughter of thomas paul finger was a prisoner at low tuna camping anthony, texas, she is a psychologist currently living in los angeles but grew up in el paso and will share what her father has experienced and what she is experiencing during this crisis. We welcome our guests and thank them for participating in todays roundtable. I will ask our guests to share her perspective with us. Mister patton, you may begin. Hope you will summarize your comments in five minutes so we will have time for questions. Mister patton. Thank you so much for convening todays roundtable. As you are aware, Public Health experts sounding the alarm about the humanitarian disaster. Incarcerated people live, eat and breathe together by the dozens in unsanitary spaces. It is the opposite of social distancing. The rate of infection in the bureau of prisons facility, 59 people have now died, federal prison names have become shorthand for tragedy. In ohio, 9 people have died and in North Carolina eight people have died. Terminal island in california eight have died and there are many others, those numbers dont include the many who sit here today who are hospitalized and on ventilators. The only responsible way to deal with this crisis is to identify people who pose an extremely low risk of any danger to the community and get them out. It can be done responsibly, consistent with Public Health but despite the extraordinary rates of infection and mounting death toll the department of justice and bureau of prisons are putting up roadblocks at every turn. They would like the public to think they are doing something. They issue memos and press releases when people like Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen are released but out of the public spotlight where the vast majority of people are doing nothing, they are actively opposing review on Vulnerable People on compassionate release. Going around the country explaining things are under control. They never mention it is testing a tiny fraction of the people incarcerated. Federal prosecutors have policies and procedures. And the court order medical inspection found jails and prisons engaged in, quote, systemic failure. My federal defender colleagues and i attempt to get people out, see the intransigence and cruelty and we are not the only ones. Federal judges have referred to doj and these policies as an outrage, illogical, unfathomable, shocking. There using those descriptors because two month into the crisis they do not have any sense of urgency or releasing Vulnerable People. They have moved less than 2 of the prison population into homes, its website, 111 increase in home confinement. That really shows how paltry they used home confinement. They are taking the battle to resist released to the appeals court. They are appealing judges improved condition. Members of the committee, i thank you for your effort passing the euros act, you feel the same way we in the trenches feel. That the crisis has become more than dry concepts, it is about basic human decency. They have taken action long before march 2, 08, and his death, eight month president pregnant when she gave birth to her child on a ventilator before she died on april 20 eighth. It would be an immediate call to action and for doj and dop it wasnt and they were unwilling to do the right thing it is essential Congress Give judges broader tools to release Vulnerable People. Their recognizing the need to act. We recognize you following suit. Miss james . You are right ahead. Yes . Yes. We can hear you. Thank you very much for inviting us again to participate, we are the National Council membership organization, who are formally incarcerated and i state that again, we are on the front line and directly in contact still. And we are juggling calls a day, they do not understand why they dont let their elderly or ill Family Members come home. We have been inundated with countless stories that their pattern scores have gone from low to high for no reason making them in eligible for release under attorney general directives, received countless emails saying women are being quarantined in spaces that are not designed for visiting rooms and even in a kitchen. Im tired of reading statistics like danbury prison of 159 reviewed for home confinement. Only 21 have been given permission to go home. I am tired of the work we have to do to determine whether they have been released. Regardless what congress has legislated and the attorney general has directed, they decided to make it nearly impossible for elderly and desperately ill people to get compassionate release and go home. At danbury, staff started out by refusing to consider people for release, if their pattern score is low rather than minimal when ag William Barrs table directive clarified people who were ranked low were intelligible, staff unilaterally increased without notice, to prevent people qualifying. Staff at fmc told a group of women they would be released to home confinement but they needed to leave the Drug Recovery program to enter quarantined before release. Successful completion subtract a full year off of that. The causal selfreported change in doj policy, completed 50 a sentence could be released to home confinement. They need to reapply, and they receive daily reports of the women of confusion and changing policy, and the criteria changes hourly. I have a printout of requirements, that was posted at 8 am and they change by 11 am. 50 of time must be done. One of our the members of the National Council was navan it it is a grave concern, they are participating in our depth. One of the most important programs. They start out free from drug use. They updated us today. It was parsed into covid19. They serve more time than they otherwise would have if the program continued in some form. They were extended by the number of months the program was caused. In addition to this, the staff, fci violated the cares act, by not allowing incarcerated women to make free video falls, they couldnt figure out how to make these calls free and were not going to comply by william barr making the policy by lockdowns necessitated by the coronavirus. The release request from those at high risk of serious covid19 complications who meet the attorney generals criterion and another case manager would only make one copy of the lease request. The human toll of these cavalier policies is enormous. Lisa crowe who is only 43 years old has stage iv Breast Cancer and been given 12 months to live. She cannot dress or wash herself, and it is confined to a wheelchair when she has enough energy to get up at all. After much 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 a metastasized lump in her throat as she might start trafficking oxycontin during her last months on this earth. This is not an over soto question of release request falling through the cracks. Miss crowe has many advocates including danny davis who made inquiries into her case. They are actively refusing to release a diet one. We received an update today that she is struggling not to strangle in her saliva. There are three ways enclosing a person could get barely released. One is a transfer to home confinement under the elderly Prisoner Program for those who meet the criteria. Another is release under the attorney generals march 20 sixth and april 3rd directive and compassionate release by court order. Under the first step back the person may have release based on extraordinary and compelling circumstances after exhausting his or her administrative remedies. The statute is awkwardly written but appears to mandate a person petitioned the warden and if no answer is received after 30 days the person can file a motion for release. Of the warden denies the request within 30 days the person has to go through the administrative appeals process which could take months. People who are vulnerable to covid19 cannot wait 30 days especially if the answer yes or no means no more waiting, means more waiting. Of the warden agrees, the release still has to be approved by advocates of the bop. If the warden says no, and administrative appeal is required. Between 2014 and 2018, 81 people died. That is before covid19 struck. One crucial step in saving incarcerated people who are vulnerable to covid19 would be to remove the exhaustion requirement for the first step back to. Senator schatz and durbin introduced a rate to streamline the compassionate release process, granting compassionate release, extraordinary and compelling. Well continue to be phone call from the families from the women themselves and will continue to do all we can to provide them with the support they need, notwithstanding our overstretched staffing capacity and budget but we need help. Congress can help to fix this and we believe congress has a moral responsibility to do so. Thank you again for this opportunity. Thank you very much. Angela caldwell. Thank you. This start hitting the united states, people started asking with them go to school, whether the offices would be shut down, whether they would lose their jobs. My chemistry asking whether we believe our father. My dads name is thomas and hes incarcerated at the latino prison camp just outside of my home town of el paso, texas. Its a minimal security facility with mostly elderly nonviolent firsttime offenders. There isnt even a fence around the campus. The inmates are low risk for recidivism otherwise there would not qualify for this care. These men are not hardened criminals. They pose no danger to public. Theyve made mistakes and are trying to pay the debt to society quietly and honorably. My dad is 67 and has been diagnosed with advanced coronary artery disease. He suffers from high Blood Pressure and hypertension. According to the cdc, this 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 medical staff to protect him them from covidy 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 acknowledged that my father has a target on his back. It was greeted at the attorney generals directive, the warden told his 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 signed his transfer papers. My mother was contacted by Prison Administration and her home was determined suitable for home confinement. We started to breathe. A week later on april 20 my fathers transfer was denied. Apparently there was a new requirement that he had to have served 50 of the sentence. And because of that arbitrary threshold that is nothing to do with covid19, because of this betrayal, my fathers hopes for protection from his government were shattered. My family was devastated. My mother stopped sleeping. On april 29 we requested a compassionate release, and on april 30 we restarted the request for home confinement. This time our efforts initially appeared to be successful. Two days later my father signed his transfer papers again. A few days after that my mother passed another home inspection, and we could breathe again. My father was coming home. Where we could protect them from the virus that is in the vop. But this past monday, four days ago, my father received notice that his compassion relief was denied because the prison was using other means to protect his safety. But the next day, tuesday, we got word his transfer transfere confinement had been denied again. Thats three denials. As of this would not admit my father was a perfect conduct record and is a model prisoner has been placed in solitary confinement twice in the last two months. However, both times he was not charged with a violation. His record remains spotless. But both times happen 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 with a serious heart condition and a roach infested cell to block him from speaking to the press. And my family got to go to bed that night with visions of my father lying on a prison floor clutching at his chest. My father has been begging the bop for safety for two months, and we have been denied three times. But others have been released. So what are the rules . If you are famous you get released. If youre from a prison thats already killed many of its inmates because of the outbreak you get released. At if this discussion results in my fathers release, then what does that mean . That your daughter has to appear in front of congress for you to be treated like a human being . What does any for the other inmates who are victims of unconscionable abuses whose families cannot week for them . Im here because of my privilege. Im here because im white, educated. But most important, in the case of love tuna because i speak english. You see, ill pass is a border town. Most of inmates at la tuna fire from American Families who dont look like families in the rest of the country. In el paso many American Families only speak spanish. Where i grew up you better be valid or you may not be able to order dinner. What do these families do . How do they protect their fathers from a a covid outbrean prison if they cant even read the website . The answer is its not their jobs. I shouldnt be here. It is not the job of the families to protect the incarcerated. That is job of the bop. These men and women were given prison sentences. Thats the deal. The bop is not entitled to subject them to for the punishment and there certainly not entitled to subject them. Either to expose the cruelty and defeat of the bop. Be of the claims are following the guidance of the cdc an