The President announced eleven pardons and five sentence commutations on Wednesday, all granted to individuals who were convicted of non-violent drug felonies which have been a primary focus for the Biden administration.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission finalized rules that drew broad bipartisan support from criminal justice advocates Wednesday.

Among the 2024 changes to federal sentencing guidelines are rules that alter how sentences for offenses committed prior to the age of eighteen are considered in the calculation of a defendant’s criminal history score, and eliminate the consideration of offenses for which a person of any age has been acquitted during subsequent interactions with the justice system.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the use of solitary confinement in federal facilities Tuesday morning, including an extensive look at the roughly eight percent of individuals in restrictive housing under the Bureau of Prisons on any given day this year. 

The Bureau of Prisons uses solitary or restrictive housing arrangements for incarcerated people for reasons that include inmate and staff safety and for disciplinary reasons. However, even relatively short stays in solitary confinement can exacerbate mental health problems, increase behavioral health crises, and lead to unintended consequences for both staff and incarcerated people, including increased risk of abuse and neglect.  

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a markup of H.R. 3019, the Federal Prison Oversight Act, on Wednesday. With 30 bipartisan co-sponsors, the bill, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, would establish an ombudsman within the DOJ who would be tasked handling complaints from incarcerated individuals, corrections staff and others, as well as provide for risk-based assessments of federal prison facilities.

The hearing follows a February report that showed the majority of non-medical deaths in federal prisons were preventable, and amid frequent news reports of on-going abuses in prisons across the country.

A Friday decision from the Supreme Court that split justices by how they interpret the word “and” is garnering renewed interest in federal sentencing and incarceration rates. In Pulsifer v. U.S., Mark E. Pulsifer, who was sentenced for two non-violent drug charges related to selling methamphetamine, argued that he was eligible for relief under former President Trump’s First Step Act because he did not meet all three exclusionary criteria in a list set out in the legislation.

The proposed amendments are under consideration as more than 150,000 people are currently serving sentences in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, an agency that is chronically understaffed and struggling to manage the safety of staff and incarcerated people. It is imperative that the Commission consider amendments to the Guidelines that consider this backdrop…