White-Collar Criminals Find Less Favor with Feds

[danielle]

WASHINGTON - Officials at the U.S. Department of Justice transferred 125 nonviolent offenders from halfway houses to prison this month as part of a tougher policy for white-collar criminals, who will no longer be allowed to serve time in community corrections centers.

Housing white-collar criminals in halfway houses had been a practice of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the past two years, but a recent review by the Department of Justice determined the BOP overstepped its authority by allowing sentences for wealthy criminals to be served in community corrections. The new policy is expected to lead to the transfer of hundreds of white-collar defendants, possibly including those involved in the current financial scandals at Enron and WorldCom.

"Community confinement does not constitute imprisonment for purposes of a sentencing order, and BOP lacks clear general statutory authority to place in community confinement an offender who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment," read a recent legal opinion from Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson. "BOP's practice is therefore unlawful."

The BOP complied and quickly issued a directive to its community corrections centers, where about 8,600 of the BOP's 164,000 prisoners are housed. But a BOP spokesperson said that about 600 federal inmates are in halfway houses due to "direct court commitments" such as plea bargains, and that, in many cases, judges are ultimately dictating leniency to the BOP.