Federal prison system to begin moving nearly 7K inmates
Source: Associated Press
Federal prison system to begin moving nearly 7K inmates
By MICHAEL BALSAMO and MICHAEL R. SISAK
May 22, 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) The federal Bureau of Prisons will begin moving about 6,800 inmates who have been waiting in local detention centers across the U.S. to federal prisons to avoid jail overcrowding in the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Friday.
Its not clear when it would begin. The inmates will be sent to one of three designated quarantine sites FCC Yazoo City in Mississippi, FCC Victorville in California and FTC Oklahoma City or to a Bureau of Prisons detention center.
All the inmates who are being moved will be tested for COVID-19 when they arrive at the Bureau of Prisons facility and would be tested again before they are moved to the prison where they would serve their sentence.
The prisoners have already been sentenced to federal crimes but were unable to be moved from local facilities as the coronavirus pandemic struck over concerns the virus would spread rampantly.
In a memo issued to staff earlier this week, Bureau of Prisons officials said the inmates would be held there until such time that inmates can be moved safely to their final destination. The BOP says it has suspended most transfers of inmates already in the federal system, but there are still exceptions for forensic studies, medical or mental health treatment, residential reentry and inmates who are wanted by other juristictions.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/b51016b7dbe7a9b46a2d57e569372dfa