U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Thursday directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin identifying older and medically at-risk inmates for release to home confinement, as officials address the spread of the novel coronavirus inside the agency’s 122 facilities.

Barr’s directive came as two federal jails in Manhattan and Brooklyn had each reported their first confirmed cases of COVID-19, the potentially deadly respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus, and the Justice Department faced increasing calls to reduce the number of vulnerable inmates who might contract the virus.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]