Ketanji Brown Jackson Wanted to Empty Jails at Start of Pandemic

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said in the early days of the pandemic it would be "reasonable" to release "each and every" person in District of Columbia jails, and she went on to grant COVID-related releases to defendants and inmates implicated in serious crimes.

In the early days of the pandemic, Judge Jackson made a passionate appeal on behalf of inmates in Washington, D.C., jails and said pandemic conditions could justify releasing them.

"The obvious increased risk of harm that the COVID-19 pandemic poses to individuals who have been detained in the District’s correctional facilities reasonably suggests that each and every criminal defendant who is currently in D.C. DOC custody—and who thus cannot take independent measures to control their own hygiene and distance themselves from others—should be released," she wrote. She went on to urge Congress to take action to help.

In one instance, Jackson granted pretrial release to a defendant allegedly involved in a deadly fentanyl-trafficking ring, requiring only that he comply with a 10 p.m. curfew. In another case, she released an inmate with multiple bank robbery convictions. Prosecutors opposed both moves.

COVID outbreaks were common in prisons across the country and prompted authorities to reduce jail populations to slow transmission. As of this writing, 292 inmates have died of COVID out of 135,000 in the federal system—less than one quarter of one percent—according to the Bureau of Prisons. Some researchers suggest this move contributed to the late spike in violent crime.

Republican opposition to Jackson during her confirmation hearing was pinned to her lenient sentencing, particularly to individuals convicted on charges related to child pornography. In many cases, she imposed sentences far below sentencing guidelines and the recommendations of prosecutors. Her call to release dangerous criminals back onto the streets due to the pandemic could further those concerns.

Jackson made the remark on COVID releases in the course of denying a request for release from a defendant named Sean Ray Wiggins, a high-level heroin dealer. But her pro-inmate appeal was the opening passage of the decision, apparently serving as the frame for all that followed. And she urged Congress to take steps to facilitate release of inmates.

"It is crystal clear that the dangers of the moment call for more systematic action than a judge can grant in any...

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