{"id":162,"date":"2018-12-11T16:16:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T21:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/compassionaterelease.com\/?page_id=162"},"modified":"2023-09-21T16:17:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T21:17:07","slug":"compassionate-release-statistics-faqs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/compassionaterelease.com\/compassionate-release-statistics-faqs\/","title":{"rendered":"Compassionate Release Statistics FAQs"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Compassionate Release Statistics<\/h3>\r\n

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Compassionate Release Statistics<\/h2>\r\n

1. How many federal compassionate release requests are filed each year?<\/p>\r\n

This is a difficult question to answer because the data that the Bureau of Prisons has released in the past several years may not be accurate. In response to a Congressional inquiry, the Bureau stated that between 2014 and 2018, 3,059 requests were filed. This conflicts with other data released<\/a>\u00a0to the New York Times<\/i>\u00a0which stated that 5,400 compassionate release requests were filed between 2013 and 2017.<\/p>\r\n

However, it appears that around 1,000 requests are filed each year.<\/p>\r\n

2. How many requests are approved each year?<\/p>\r\n

This data is not available, but according to the New York Times<\/i>, 306 applications were approved by the Director between 2013 and 2017.<\/p>\r\n

3. How many compassionate release requests are denied\u00a0annually?<\/p>\r\n

While annual figures are not available, between 2014 and 2018, a total of 2,405 petitions were denied by the Director. These do not include the many more denied by Wardens.<\/p>\r\n

4. What is the data on terminal medical condition requests?<\/p>\r\n

Between 2014 and 2018, 817 applications were filed for a terminal medical condition, but only 405 were actually referred to the Director.<\/p>\r\n

5. What is the data on debilitated medical condition requests?<\/p>\r\n

Between 2014 and 2018, 1,106 applications were filed for a debilitated medical condition. Only 181 were referred to the Director.<\/p>\r\n

6. What is the data on elderly-medical requests?<\/p>\r\n

Between 2014 and 2018, 477 applications were filed for elderly-medical reasons, and only 177 were referred to the Director.<\/p>\r\n

7. What is the data on elderly-nonmedical requests?<\/p>\r\n

Between 2014 and 2018, 268 applications were filed for elderly-nonmedical reasons; 87 were referred to the Director.<\/p>\r\n

8. What is the data on death or incapacitation of child caregiver requests?<\/p>\r\n

Between 2014 and 2018, 282 applications were filed for death or incapacitation of child caregiver reasons, but only 33 were referred to the Director.<\/p>\r\n

9. What is the data on incapacitation of spouse or registered partner requests?<\/p>\r\n

Between 2014 and 2018, 109 applications were filed for incapacitation of spouse or registered partner reasons. A grand total of 15 were referred to the Director.<\/p>\r\n

10 How many inmates die while waiting on a decision?<\/p>\r\n

This also depends on the dataset. According to the Office of the Inspector General, between 2006 and 2011, 28 of 206 (13 percent) medical compassionate release applicants died while awaiting a decision. While the data released to Congress showed that between 2014 and 2018, 81 federal prisoners died, the data from the\u00a0New York Times<\/i>\u00a0indicates that between 2013 and 2017, 266 federal prisoners died while awaiting a response. See our\u00a0Compassionate Release Statistics<\/a>\u00a0page for more information. These statistics, as presented in these frequently asked questions (FAQs), show how stark the situation really is.<\/p>\r\n

11. Why the confusion amongst the data?<\/p>\r\n

As succinctly put by the Office of Inspector General, “The BOP does not properly manage the\u00a0compassionate release program<\/a>[.]” Even though compassionate release has been available within the Bureau of Prisons since 1984, it appears as though the Bureau has yet to put in place a robust system for tracking the number of requests, approvals, and denials. What’s more, the data that is available is incomplete, untimely, and often misleading.<\/p>\r\n

If you have any questions not answered by our compassionate release statistics FAQs, please call us at 802-444-4357.<\/p>\r\n

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