Compassionate Release Denied Despite Unconstitutional Sentence

An inmate isn’t entitled to compassionate release even though his sentence would be deemed unconsitutional if handed down today, the Seventh Circuit said.

The compassionate release statute can’t be used to circumvent non-retroactive changes in the law, the opinion by Judge Diane P. Wood said Thursday, entrenching a circuit split.

Troy Williams was sentenced in 2001 on drug charges and received two life sentences, which were mandatory under the US Sentencing Guidelines at the time.

The US Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that the mandatory sentencing guidelines were unconstitutional. In 2018 Congress adopted the First Step Act, which would have ...