Since December, the status of these individuals has been in flux since Justice Department officials from Trump's outgoing Trump administration issued an advisory memo saying that sentences that exceed the Covid-19 emergency order will be returned to prison.Marquez was one of approximately 4,400 people who were freed from federal prison and placed in home confinement beginning in April 2020. This was in accordance with a Department of Justice directive that aimed to prevent the transmission of Covid-19 inside prison cells. The federal government usually allows nonviolent offenders to serve the last 10 percent of their sentences or the last six month, whichever is lower. They are subject to strict state surveillance, including ankle bracelets or daily call-ins. Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the Department of Justice memorandum asked the Bureau of Prisons for a relaxation of eligibility criteria for home confinement to allow people convicted of nonviolent offenses to be released from prison even though they have served less time.Diana Marquez spent 14 months walking, running, and cooking with her daughter. Her fourth-grader grandson, Diana Marquez, has become close to her, and she helps him with math homework. She also lived with a weight on her head and an ankle bracelet around her leg.Marquez, along with other nonviolent offenders, will be released from prison without executive intervention. However, no one knows when this will occur due to the resurging Covid-19 cases in the country and the prison systems. Marquez said that she is so stressed out by uncertainty that her hair has fallen out in clumps.Marquez, who was sentenced to 16 years for her role in a marijuana conspiracy, said that she doesn't want to return to prison. She has also served a 30-year term. Marijuana has been legalized in all 50 states during her time in jail. She said that marijuana is legal in 19 states already. (Recreational marijuana has legal status in 18 states and District of Columbia.People like Marquez, who are serving time for marijuana-related offenses, find the position of the Biden Justice Departments shocking. After all, President Joe Biden campaigned for loosening drug laws. He said that marijuana-related offenses should not be punished in federal prisons.The New York Times reported last week that Biden administration lawyers concluded that Trump administration memo correctly understood the law. This means that approximately 2,000 people currently in home confinement will be affected, while the remainder of those already serving their sentences can be released early under standard guidance.Every day they fear going back to prison. The hardest part is waiting, according to Kevin Ring, president and CEO of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. This group advocates for humane sentences and better treatment of prisoners behind bars. The silence of the administration is so pathetic.The revenue required to solve annual budgets, and recognition that crackingdown on marijuana and other non-violent drug crimes doesn't increase public safety, have driven states to legalize marijuana over the past decade. The federal government, however, has resisted and continues to use an outdated metric that classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1, in the same league with heroin.Biden was criticised for his opposition to legalizing cannabis as a presidential candidate. Biden responded to the criticisms during a primary debate in 2019, saying: "Ill be very short." No. 1. I believe we should make marijuana illegal, and that it should be. Everybody with a criminal record should be released from jail and their records erased.While he acknowledged the importance of studying long-term effects of marijuana on health, he did not change his opinion about marijuana-related prison sentences. Biden stated that this is all there is to it. No. No.The Biden administration has not responded to this question since they took office. Jen Psaki, White House spokesperson, was asked by the press how Biden would fulfill his promise to release people who are currently serving time for marijuana-related offenses. Psaki spoke out on Biden's position regarding marijuana decriminalization or rescheduling, and legalizing medical marijuana. However, she did not address the question about clemency. I am asking you a legal question. We are now in government so I had to follow-up with our legal team. I don't have any additional information yet.Although Senate Democrats have introduced a broad legalization bill and indicated that it was a priority legislatively, 49 percent of Democratic voters support legalizing pot, Biden has not changed his mind. Psaki answered a question about the administration's position regarding the legislation earlier in the month. He said that he had not spoken to him about marijuana legislation.Advocates have been frustrated by the president's incoherence. Biden stated that marijuana cases should be expunged. Amy Povah is CAN-DO Justice for Clemency founder. Amy Povah submitted two clemency petitions to President Donald Trump on Marquez's behalf. The second one remains pending. Let them go, and get rid of it from their records. Povah stated that she spoke with Biden's White House counsel to lobby for mercy for those in home confinement and reminded them about the presidents campaign promise.Because of the large number of people in home confinement it would prove difficult to evaluate each case. Advocates are lobbying for mass clemency. This is for pot prisoners as well as those sent home by the CARES Act directive.According to the New York Times Biden's team is cautious about blanket clemency. The Democratic presidents are always eager to be tougher on crime than Republicans and almost never grant commutations during their first term. They are afraid of backlash if someone commits a crime after being granted clemency. In his first term, President Barack Obama pardoned 22 individuals and commuted one sentence. In contrast, Trump granted executive pardons to 237 people in his first term. Biden has not yet made any pardons, commutations.Advocates argue that mass clemency is almost risk-free for those who are being held in home confinement and now face a return visit to prison. The Bureau of Prisons director stated earlier this year that only 20 of the 20,000 individuals currently in home confinement were sent to prison for violating their parole. This number also includes those who were released pursuant to the CARES Act memo, as well as those who were released as they neared the end of their sentence.Ring stated that it was such low-hanging fruit. He also noted that the releases were approved at the time by William Barr, the former Attorney General and architect of mass incarceration policies in the 1990s. These people will get their sentences commuted. It doesn't require a lot courage.News of the Biden administration's interpretation of home confinement prompted a frenzy of activism. #KeepThemHome was trending on Twitter as activists tried to press the president to show mercy to the thousands of people affected.Advocates also use the conversation to talk about the arbitrariness of home confinement decisions. Raquel Esquivel was, for example. She was serving a 15-year sentence for helping to smuggle cannabis across the Southwest border.Her son was born to her mother and she was pregnant at the time of sentencing. Ricky Gonzales, her fianc, stated that she tried to reunite with her 11-year-old son after she was sent back to home confinement. He said that there was so much guilt.Esquivel, now six months pregnant was sent back to prison after the Bureau of Prisons claimed she had missed a check in phone call two months earlier. She denies this claim. Povah stated that they consider it an escape. This demonstrates the absurdity of this whole thing. She calls in every day. She had done everything perfectly, she got a job, was engaged and she is pregnant. They won't give up.
