FreedomWorks Praises Bipartisan Letter Urging DOJ to Transfer Elderly Offenders to Home Confinement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following the release of a bipartisan letter co-led by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Kevin Cramer (R-S.D.) urging the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons to transfer nonviolent elderly inmates into home confinement, Jason Pye, FreedomWorks’ Vice President of Legislative Affairs, commented:

“As some prison officials have already warned, prisons are like petri dishes, leaving inmates vulnerable to COVID-19. Elderly inmates, in particular, are more vulnerable to this virus. The Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons have a way, consistent with federal law, to allow these vulnerable nonviolent inmates to be transferred into home confinement. The First Step Act expanded the Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program to allow the transfer of nonviolent inmates over the age of 60 into home confinement as long as they have served two-thirds of their sentences. Waiting is not an option. Let’s send these vulnerable nonviolent inmates home for the sake of our nation’s health.”