Compassionate Release.

One of the Sentencing Commission’s areas of work in 2016 involved improving the guidance for judges considering compassionate release requests.  On February 17,  2016, the Sentencing Commission held a hearing about the subject and FAMM was invited to testify. You can read the FAMM statement here, read a transcript of the entire hearing and/or watch the hearing here.

FAMM encouraged the Commission not only to expand compassionate release grounds, but also urge the Bureau of Prisons to bring more motions for compassionate release, in all cases where the prisoner meets the criteria set out by the Sentencing Commission.

On April 15, 2016 the Commission announced it would not only expand the grounds for compassionate release, it also pointedly encouraged the Commission to bring a motion whenever a prisoner appears to meet the criteria.

Here is a link to the meeting where the new compassionate release guideline was announced.

You can read the full new guideline here.

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