There have been COVID-19 outbreaks at federal prisons in Texas and elsewhere, and inmates who could have gotten out early are not.At one point, 72%of the population at the Seagoville federal prison in North Texas tested positive.
Covid-19 has thrown a wrench into the Residential Drug Abuse Program. In the past, those who finished the nine month program could get out of prison a year early.
Kevin Ring, President of FAM, a non profit criminal justice advocacy organization says "they don't want to have large numbers of people convening. In a lot of these prisons people are being stuck in their cells 23 hours a day so they're not doing programming they would do. Not only drug treatment, but the GED program and other things."Ring says the Residential Drug Abuse Program is one of the few in the federal system that has been proven to reduce recidivism.He adds Covid-19 has caused a shortage in staffing, so there aren't enough people to run these programs.
