By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will not forcibly return federal prisoners who have been sent home by the coronavirus virus pandemic to their prison cells once the emergency has ended.

This decision is an important reversal of the department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The previous opinion stated that the Bureau of Prisons was not legally authorized to send inmates home once the pandemic has passed.

The victory also represents a major win for criminal justice advocacy group who have tirelessly lobbyed the White House as well as the Department of Corrections to prevent law-abiding and low-level prisoners being forced to return to prison.

“Thousands of people on home confinement have reconnected with their families, have found gainful employment, and have followed the rules,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The CARES Act was passed by Congress in 2020. It gives the Justice Department more authority to allow low-level prisoners to be placed into home confinement for the duration of a pandemic. This is to reduce crowding and COVID-19 spread.

In January of 2018, however, the Office of Legal Counsel of Department of Justice issued controversial opinions stating that the federal Bureau of Prisons would “must recall prison inmates in home confinement into correctional facilities” once the emergency was lifted.

Dozens upon dozens of advocacy organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights as well as the Justice Action Network and FAMM, have asked the Justice Department for an overturning of that opinion. This group is opposed to mandatory minimum sentences.

The White House has been urged to make use of its clemency powers and commute sentences for those sent home.

Garland stated Tuesday that he plans to also direct the BOP’s rulemaking process to ensure inmates living in home confinement “have an opportunity to transition back into society” without being “unnecessarily sent to prison.”