COVID is "Over," So The Justice System Can Be Petty Again.

 Assuming that they weren't petty during the height of COVID:

This week, the Bureau of Prisons told NPR that 442 people who were released during the pandemic have now returned to prison. Only 17 people out of more than 11,000 who were released committed new crimes, mostly drug related ones, while they were out. More than half, some 230 people including Eva Cardoza, got sent back for alleged alcohol or drug use. Other cases involved technical violations.

Sakira Cook of the racial justice group Color of Change explained what that means.

"It could be as simple as failing to answer the phone when your probation officer calls you. It could be as simple as the ankle monitor giving an incorrect signal about your location," Cook said.

Cook has personal experience with that last problem: a relative recently left federal prison on home confinement, only to get an ankle monitor that didn't work. Fortunately, she said, the probation officer understood the situation.

Kevin Ring advocates for people in prison and their families at the group FAMM, formerly known as Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

"In a normal circumstance, somebody who violates the terms of their home confinement is sent back to the halfway house or to prison, but the stakes are much lower," Ring said. "They're only going back for a month or two."

But some of the people released from prison under the bipartisan pandemic legislation called the Cares Act have years remaining on their prison terms.

"Is it really worth sending people back for years because they missed a phone call or they had alcohol in their urine?" Ring asked.