How you ask for compassionate release matters. In this case study, an elderly prisoner who likely qualified kept getting turned down after he took an angry, demanding approach with prison officials. A calm, respectful, well-documented request usually works better.
Criminal Center has helped clients win compassionate release, but it is never easy. The example below is not our client. It shows how not to seek compassionate release.
Medical and criminal background
Jim is an elderly federal prisoner serving time for multiple crimes.* He was sentenced to natural life (life with no release date) more than 20 years ago.
During that time, he has suffered from several debilitating medical conditions. He has gone blind and had several heart attacks. He now uses a walker and needs another prisoner, called an inmate companion, to walk him around the prison and help care for him.
We learned about Jim a few years ago, when an incarcerated associate tried to help him get compassionate release. Unfortunately, Jim had already burned several bridges by then. He chose a very aggressive, combative approach to getting compassionate release. It is a clear example of what not to do.
How his request played out
Jim started his compassionate release process the usual way. He wrote a petition for compassionate release as a letter to his warden.
The warden sent the request to the prison’s Clinical Director, who wrote a summary of Jim’s medical conditions. The Clinical Director sent that summary back to the warden with a recommendation to approve. The warden agreed and sent the petition to the Office of General Counsel for review.
In the meantime, Jim got a copy of the Clinical Director’s summary. He disagreed with it. He thought it should have stressed his heart attacks and the daily activities he could no longer do because he was blind.
So before General Counsel could decide, or even send the petition on to the Medical Director, Jim filed an administrative remedy (a formal prison grievance) asking to correct the Clinical Director’s analysis.
The warden granted the administrative remedy. That stopped the compassionate release process, and the warden told the new Clinical Director to do a fresh review of Jim’s medical condition.
This time the review was more detailed, and it even mentioned a recent heart attack. But the Clinical Director recommended denying the petition. The warden followed that recommendation and denied it, citing both the Clinical Director’s recommendation and the seriousness of Jim’s crime.
Jim then filed a new administrative remedy to overturn the warden’s denial. It was denied at every level. In his administrative remedies, Jim argued that he was entitled to compassionate release and demanded that it be granted.
After that string of administrative remedies, Jim wrote to his Senators, Congressmen, and the Attorney General. In response, the Bureau agreed to take a new look at his condition and his petition. The Clinical Director again recommended denial, and the warden agreed.
Several more administrative remedies and petitions followed, but Jim has yet to succeed. He almost seems to have drawn a clear road map of how not to seek compassionate release.
Key lessons from Jim’s case
Under the Bureau’s policy in effect at the time, Jim probably qualified for compassionate release under two provisions: Terminal Medical Condition (PS 5050.49(3)(a)) and Debilitated Medical Condition (PS 5050.49(3)(b)).
The problem is that he made himself a thorn in the side of Bureau officials. He approached the process with a combative sense of entitlement, which does not win over a bureaucrat.
The lesson is to approach compassionate release as a humble request. With BOP officials, it is always a bad idea to try to force them to do something they are not required to do. That is simply not how bureaucrats work. Jim’s approach may have cost him any chance he had at compassionate release.
A better approach to a medical request is to write a complete, well-reasoned petition. It should lay out the prisoner’s medical condition and exactly how that condition fits the BOP criteria, and then be respectfully submitted to the warden.
If problems come up, deal with them in a calm and respectful way. Bureaucrats generally cannot be forced to take an action that is up to them. Keep that in mind when dealing with Bureau of Prisons staff.
What to do if you or a loved one are in Jim’s position
Maybe you or a loved one have ended up in a hostile relationship with prison staff over a compassionate release request, like Jim. Or maybe the request was simply denied. Either way, the next step is to fix the problems and submit the petition again. Criminal Center can review your case and help map out a path forward.
In most cases, we review all medical records and supporting documents, draft a new compassionate release petition, and help remove barriers to success.
In a case like Jim’s, we would work to calm things down and encourage Bureau officials to take a clear-eyed look at the real situation, rather than basing their decision on the prisoner’s temperament.
When a request was denied because the prisoner did not seem to qualify, we help the client understand the Bureau’s criteria for a compassionate release. Then we draft a new petition that shows the Bureau more clearly how the client does qualify.
*The prisoner’s name has been changed to protect his privacy.
If you want help with a compassionate release request, book a consultation.