SCOTUS, by 6-3 vote, refuses to stay original federal judicial order to transfer vulnerable prisoners "out of Elkton through any means"
As reported here by Amy Howe at SCOTUSblog, this afternoon "the Supreme Court denied a request by the federal government to put a temporary hold on an order by a federal government that could lead to the release or transfer of over 800 inmates from a federal prison where nine inmates have died from COVID-19." But, as she further explains:
The inmates’ victory, however, appeared to be mostly procedural and likely fleeting: The court explained that the government had not asked them to block the district court’s most recent order, and it indicated that the government could return to the Supreme Court to 'seek a new stay if circumstances warrant'.” Moreover, three justices – Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – indicated that they would have granted the government’s request.
Today’s order came in a case filed last month by inmates at a low-security federal prison in Elkton, Ohio. The inmates argued that they face a disproportionately high risk of contracting COVID-19 because they are in such close proximity to other inmates and correctional staff that social distancing is virtually impossible. In an order issued on April 22, the district court instructed officials at the Bureau of Prisons to evaluate elderly and high-risk prisoners for transfer out of the Elkton facility, either through some form of early release (such as home confinement, compassionate release, parole or community supervision) or by moving them to another facility.
The inmates returned to the district court this month to enforce the April 22 order. They stressed that although the BOP had identified 837 inmates as elderly or high-risk, none of them had been released or moved yet: five were waiting for home confinement, while six others had been designated as potentially qualifying for home confinement. On May 19, finding that the BOP had been “thumbing their nose at their authority to authorize home confinement,” the district court ordered the government to “make full use of the home confinement authority,” and to reconsider inmates’ eligibility without using certain criteria – such as the amount of time remaining on an inmate’s sentence – as a categorical bar. The district court also ordered the government to act quickly on applications for compassionate release, and to explain by May 26 why any prisoners who are not eligible for release could not be transferred to another facility “where social distancing is possible.”
The government came to the Supreme Court last Wednesday, asking the justices to put the district court’s April 22 order on hold while it appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit and, if needed, the Supreme Court. In a filing by U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the government argued that allowing an order that would require the release or transfer of over 800 prisoners could both jeopardize public safety and interfere in the management of federal prisons.
In their brief opposing the stay of the district court’s order, the inmates emphasized that as of May 19, there were 135 active COVID-19 cases among the inmates at the Elkton prison, plus eight active cases among staff members. The only way to lower the risk of infection for inmates and staff is to transfer inmates out of the facility, as the attorney general himself has recognized, they argued....
In the one-page order today, the court explained that the government was “seeking a stay only of the District Court’s April 22 preliminary injunction,” even though the district court had “issued a new order enforcing the preliminary injunction and imposing additional measures” on May 19. “Particularly” because the government had neither appealed the May 19 order nor asked the 6th Circuit to put it on hold, the court continued, the Supreme Court would not now block the April 22 injunction, but the government could return to seek a new stay “if circumstances warrant.”
The full SCOTUS order is available at this link.
Prior related posts:
- Federal Judge orders BOP to find ways to transfer prisoners "out of Elkton through any means" in the coming weeks
- Feds appealing last week's judicial order to transfer vulnerable prisoners "out of Elkton through any means"
- Sixth Circuit panel refuses to stay district judge order to transfer vulnerable prisoners out of Elkton federal prison "through any means"
- Federal judge finds BOP has "made poor progress in transferring" vulnerable inmates out of federal prison COVID hotspot
- Feds asking SCOTUS to stay judicial order to transfer vulnerable prisoners "out of Elkton through any means"
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