During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday,  Senator Richard Blumenthal questioned Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal about progress on releasing non-violent prisoners to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A temporary restraining order was issued by a federal judge against the Warden of FCI Danbury last month ordering a safe and immediate release of prisoners to home confinement. The court found that FCI Danbury officials are “making only limited use of their home confinement authority, as well as other tools to protect inmates during the outbreak, and that these failures amount to deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm to inmates in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”

Blumenthal pressed Carvajal for information about the number of FCI Danbury prisoners who have been released to home confinement, as ordered by the court.  Carvajal was unable to answer with specifics about Danbury, but promised to provide the relevant information to Blumenthal.