Justice Department Extends Prisoner Home Confinements Post-Covid

The Justice Department is expanding the home-confinement of thousands of U.S. prisoners who were released from facilities for reasons related to the pandemic, a reversal from its Trump-era position.

Granting the Bureau of Prisons the discretion to allow inmates to remain in their homes is a departure from the Trump-era decision that would’ve forced those granted house arrest under a Covid-19 relief law to return to prison as soon as 30 days after the national emergency was declared over.

An opinion published Tuesday by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel stated that a “better reading” of the coronavirus legislation and ...