COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Out of dozens of requests for sentence reductions from inmates with health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic, federal judges in Colorado approved just three in the final four months of 2020.
Colorado Politics reported federal inmates can petition courts directly if there are extraordinary and compelling reasons to leave prison, which could include elevated threat to life from COVID-19.
In 24 opinions published from September through December in response to compassionate release requests, judges in the U.S. District Court in Colorado often found the health condition of the inmates or the level of prison coronavirus transmission was not severe.
