U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) reintroduced legislation to help accelerate the Federal Bureau of Prison’s approval process to expedite the "compassionate release" of particular inmates during an emergency like COVID-19.
If passed, the bill would help to ensure that inmates who are suffering unduly in prison would have a chance at early release rather than expiring behind bars.
“During the pandemic, there have been COVID-19 outbreaks at correctional facilities across Hawaii. People who are eligible for compassionate release, such as elderly or terminally ill people in prisons, are particularly vulnerable during public health emergencies. And they’re put at risk because the process takes too long," Schatz wrote in a June 21 Facebook post. "I authored legislation to fix this. My bill will help improve the compassionate release process at state and local jails in Hawaii and across the country. It will also speed up the approval process at federal prisons so that people who qualify for compassionate release get it ASAP.”
The bill, which is called the Emergency GRACE Act, will provide $50 million for the state’s prison systems to increase testing capabilities for COVID-19, which would come in handy, given the latest outbreak, which is actively ongoing at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center, according to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
During the pandemic, nine inmates in Hawaiian prisons have died of COVID-19, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported: seven at Halawa Correctional Facility and two at Saguaro Correctional Center.