(Photo
by
Scott
Olson/Getty
Images)
There
are
a
lot
of
innocent
people
imprisoned
in
the
federal
prison
system.
Sometimes
the
Supreme
Court
goes
ahead
and
kills
them.
But
most
people
in
the
federal
system
are,
you
know,
actual
criminals.
So
when
a
president
issues
blanket
clemency
to
1500
people
because
they’re
low
recidivism
risks,
that
means
a
lot
of
actual
criminals
are
going
to
be
released.
Like
former
Pennsylvania
judge
Michael
T.
Conahan.
Conahan
spent
his
time
on
the
bench
sending
children
to
for-profit
prisons
in
exchange
for
kickbacks
from
the
prison
industry.
All
told,
Conahan
(and
his
co-conspirator
also
former
judge
Mark
Ciavarella)
took
in
almost
$3
million.
He
contributed
to
years
of
human
misery
exploiting
children
for
personal
profit
and
he
was
sent
away
for
17.5
years.
This
week,
he
found
his
sentence
commuted
by
Biden’s
broad
clemency
drive.
It’s
angered
liberals
who
otherwise
support
clemency
but
have
responded
with
“no,
not
like
that!”
as
though
presidential
leniency
wouldn’t
involve
mercy
to
people
who’ve
done
horrible
things.
And
right-wing
media,
who
generally
cheer
private
prisons
and
jailing
children,
have
jumped
on
this
story
to
sow
more
rage
at
Biden:
The
mother
of
a
victim
of
Conahan’s
disturbing
crime
fumed
upon
hearing
of
his
commutation.“I
am
shocked
and
I
am
hurt,”
Sandy
Fonzo,
whose
son
committed
suicide
after
he
was
locked
up
as
part
of
the
scheme
orchestrated
by
Conahan
and
former
judge
Mark
Ciavarella,
said
in
a
statement.“Conahan‘s
actions
destroyed
families,
including
mine,
and
my
son‘s
death
is
a
tragic
reminder
of
the
consequences
of
his
abuse
of
power,”
she
added,
according
to The
Citizen’s
Voice.
“This
pardon
feels
like
an
injustice
for
all
of
us
who
still
suffer.”
From
the
perspective
of
victims,
no
sentence
can
ever
be
enough.
If
we
listened
exclusively
to
victims
when
it
comes
to
sentencing,
no
one
would
ever
be
released.
And
yet,
Conahan
was
not
serving
a
life
sentence.
The
law
determined
a
term
of
years
and
he’d
already
served
around
80%
of
his
sentence.
He’s
in
his
70s,
he
will
never
be
a
judge
again,
and
he
would
be
out
in
three
years
anyway.
He’s
not
been
vindicated
by
this
Biden
action.
Biden
likely
never
considered
the
substance
of
any
of
these
1500
or
so
people.
He
just
ratified
an
existing
policy
that
deemed
them
not
worth
keeping
in
a
prison
cell.
Biden
—
who
faced
criticism
for
issuing
a
historically
low
set
of
pardons
and
commutations
—
issued
this
mass
tranche
to
avoid
the
logistical
nightmare
of
returning
folks
to
prisons
who
have
been
serving
home
detention
under
the
CARES
Act,
which
released
select
low-risk
inmates
to
house
arrest
at
the
height
of
COVID
when
prisons
risked
indirectly
imposing
the
death
penalty.
In
fact,
this
is
the
exact
policy
many
were
asking
Biden
to
adopt
a
few
weeks
ago.
Former
Acting
Director
of
the
Bureau
of
Prisons
Hugh
Hurwitz
wrote
in
The
Hill:
But
there
is
one
group
they
mentioned
that
seems
like
an
easy
decision
for
the
president,
and
the
first
group
President
Biden
pardons.During
the
Pandemic,
the
Bureau
of
Prisons
moved over
36,000
people to
home
confinement
under
the CARES
Act.
The
CARES
Act
expanded
the
amount
of
time
individuals
could
be
placed
in
home
confinement
during
the
pandemic.Under
the criteria
established by
the
Trump
Administration’s
Department
of
Justice,
these
people
were
carefully
selected
as
low
or
minimum
security
risk,
non-violent
offenders.
They
have
completed
more
than
half
their
sentences,
with
high
risk
for
complications
of
COVID.
Most
were
older
(over
age
50)
or
had
underlying
health
conditions.
All
had
clean
conduct
while
in
prison
and
were
deemed
to
not
be
of
risk
to
the
community.
Oh
yeah.
Trump
actually
signed
the
CARES
Act
and
made
the
decision
to
let
Conahan
out
of
prison.
The
NY
Post’s
coverage
above
didn’t
mention
that
part
or
find
any
quotes
from
victims
decrying
that
leniency.
Weird
oversight.
Putting
these
people
back
in
prison
—
especially
when
most
are
elderly
and
have
served
the
overwhelming
majority
of
their
sentences
—
is
a
waste
of
government
resources.
Ideally,
they
could
keep
continuing
serving
their
full
sentences
at
home,
except
the
incoming
Trump
administration
raised
the
prospect
of
returning
everyone
to
prison
with
all
the
attendant
taxpayer
costs
that
entails.
If
home
detention
is
off
the
table
and
it’s
about
prison
or
commutation
of
those
who’ve
served
most
of
their
sentence,
Biden
chose
the
former.
Personally,
I
think
there
are
many
people
in
the
prison
system
more
deserving
of
presidential
clemency
than
Conahan,
who
deserves
to
live
in
a
cell
the
same
way
he
wrongfully
consigned
children
to
live.
It’s
a
cruel
irony
that
he’s
the
beneficiary
of
the
same
leniency
that
he
denied
so
many.
That
said,
if
he’s
released
as
part
of
a
general
policy
to
ratify
a
decision
to
release
low-risk
inmates…
I
understand
that
it’s
probably
the
right
policy
for
the
country.
But,
hey,
they
aren’t
talking
about
Hunter
anymore.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
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free
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