This federal judge is calling for prisoners to be given a second chance

If you ask federal judges to name the toughest part of their job, most will say sentencing. Sentencing a defendant is a momentous decision that can affect years or even decades of a person’s life. And for years, it was final: a judge could not go back on it, even if there were major changes in the defendant or his circumstances.

That changed in 2018, when Congress passed the First step (FSA)—with overwhelming bipartisan support, including then-President Donald Trump. One of the law’s key provisions allows a federal district judge to review and reduce a previously imposed sentence—even if that sentence was (and remains) lawful, and even if that sentence was life in prison.

What are the requirements for granting this relief, known as “compassionate release”? The crucial one is that the judge must find “extraordinary and compelling reasons” to do so.

And what can be considered “extraordinary and compelling reasons”? It is currently the subject of extensive litigation in district and circuit courts, which have issued conflicting rulings on multiple issues, making it likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene. (The Court did tackle the FSA last term in Pulsifer v. United States(but it interpreted a different part of the law.)

If and when the judges get involved, I have a reading tip for them: A second chance: A federal judge decides who deserves itIn this compelling and illuminating new book, Judge Frederic Block of the Eastern District of New York introduces readers to six defendants who filed motions for compassionate release in his court. He asks us to consider whether we should reduce their sentences, then reveals how he ultimately ruled.

His decisions reflect decades of experience. Judge Block was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and will celebrate his 30th anniversary on the bench later this month. And at 90, he continues to hear cases as a senior judge, with no plans to hang up his robes altogether.

“I can’t retire until Glasser does,” Judge Block said, referring to Judge Leo Glasser, who at age 100 oldest judge currently serving in the federal court, whose offices are just around the corner.

And Judge Block somehow finds time to write books, too. Last week I visited him at his home, a sunny, artsy apartment in Greenwich Village where he has lived for nearly three decades, and interviewed him about A second chance. It is his fourth book, or at least his fourth to be published, as he has two completed manuscripts he is trying to publish, plus another one that is already 100 pages long.

He started writing A second chance in July 2023, in the house in Greece where he and his wife Betsy spend their summers. By September, the book was more or less finished, because, the judge told me, “at my age I have to write quickly.”

I asked Judge Block what inspired him to tackle this topic.

“The First Step Act is probably the most significant piece of sentencing reform I’ve ever seen,” he told me. “It really changed the sentencing landscape in the United States. In deciding motions for compassionate release under the act, I came across all these fascinating stories — which gave me the idea for the book.”

The things he shares A second chance make for compelling reading. He begins with that of Justin Volpe, the former New York City police officer notorious for the 1997 beating of Abner Louima, a wrongfully arrested black man. Judge Block then describes the cases of a drug dealer involved in a murder, a computer programmer who had access to child pornography, and three mob suspects. The judge ultimately reduced the sentences of two of the six defendants.

And he continues to receive motions for compassionate release, as do judges across the country. As of January 2024, 4,680 prisoners have been released by judges since the First Step Act went into effect. Before the FSA, only the Federal Bureau of Prisons had the authority to grant compassionate release, which it rarely did, granting relief to an average of just two dozen defendants per year.

But as discussed in A second chanceand as Judge Block said again when we spoke, federal prisoners make up only about 10 percent of the total prison population in the United States. The remaining 90 percent are in state prisons and local jails. Judge Block believes that they too should be eligible for compassionate release, describing his book as “my clarion call to all states to follow Congress’ lead and enact their own First Step Acts.”

I asked him: How likely are states to act? Criminal justice reform advocates seem to have lost ground to the “tough on crime” camp. Donald Trump, who once bragged about signing the First Step Act, has stopped talking about it — and instead claims during the campaign that he is “the candidate for law and order.”

“I’m not overly optimistic,” Judge Block admitted, suggesting that in the current political climate, some politicians fear the electoral consequences of being seen as soft on crime.

But he noted that at least some states are considering reforms, including New Yorkwhere Sen. Julia Salazar (D-N.Y.) Second look actAnd he said that even if the odds are against him, he won’t stop “urging people to think about the problems that face our justice system — and the number one problem, in my view, is mass incarceration.”

“After 30 years on the bench, I have the confidence and the security to talk about the things that bother me,” Judge Block said. “So I took this opportunity to have my say.”