Compassionate Release · § 3582
My Husband Is Seriously Ill. Can He Get Out Early?
Short answer: Yes, there is a way to ask. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) he first asks the Bureau of Prisons to file for him, and 30 days after the warden receives that written request he can file his own motion with the judge who sentenced him. Illness is the heart of this law, and the part most families leave out is the release plan.
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Yes. If your husband is seriously ill in a federal prison, he can ask the judge who sentenced him to cut the rest of his sentence short. The law is 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). Most people call it compassionate release.
Illness is not a side door here. It is the main one. On May 28, 2026, the Supreme Court described "the heartland of compassionate release, which has long been defined by a prisoner's personal circumstances, such as medical condition, age, and family circumstances." Rutherford v. United States, No. 24-820 (U.S. May 28, 2026).
There are two steps, and the first one is not the court. He asks the Bureau of Prisons to file the motion for him. If it refuses, or if 30 days pass from the day the warden received that request, he can file his own motion with the sentencing judge. The statute allows a reduction "upon motion of the defendant after the defendant has fully exhausted all administrative rights to appeal a failure of the Bureau of Prisons to bring a motion on the defendant's behalf or the lapse of 30 days from the receipt of such a request by the warden ... whichever is earlier." 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). Whichever comes first is the route available to him.
If he is getting worse right now
If his condition is sliding, two things move faster.
The Bureau's own rule puts medical requests ahead of the pile. "In the event the basis of the request is the medical condition of the inmate, staff shall expedite the request at all levels." 28 C.F.R. § 571.62(c). Say "medical condition" in the first line.
If he has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, the law puts a clock on the Bureau instead of on you. Within 72 hours it must notify his partner and family members and tell them they may prepare and submit the request on his behalf. Within 7 days it must give the family, including extended family, a chance to visit in person. On request, its own employees must help him prepare and submit it. And it must process a request submitted on his behalf within 14 days. 18 U.S.C. § 3582(d)(2)(A). The statute defines "terminal illness" as "a disease or condition with an end-of-life trajectory." § 3582(d)(1). If he has that diagnosis and nobody called you, write that down with the date.
There is a separate rule if he is too sick to act for himself. If he is "physically or mentally unable to submit a request," the Bureau must tell his family they may submit it for him, and must accept and process it. § 3582(d)(2)(B).
What you can do this week
Get the request to the warden, in writing. The regulation says it "shall be submitted to the Warden," ordinarily in writing, and that it must contain at a minimum the "extraordinary or compelling circumstances that the inmate believes warrant consideration" and "[p]roposed release plans, including where the inmate will reside, how the inmate will support himself/herself, and ... where the inmate will receive medical treatment, and how the inmate will pay for such treatment." 28 C.F.R. § 571.61(a).
This is where most of these requests die, and it is the part you can build and he cannot. A letter that says how sick he is and nothing about where he would live, who would look after him, which clinic would take him and who would pay is a letter a warden can deny in four minutes. This week you can gather the address, a signed letter from whoever he would live with, the name and number of a clinic that will see him, and who would pay.
You can send it in yourself. "The Bureau of Prisons processes a request made by another person on behalf of an inmate in the same manner as an inmate's request," and staff who receive one at the Central Office must refer it to his warden. 28 C.F.R. § 571.61(b).
Get the medical file. He can review his own records by "submitting a request to a staff member designated by the Warden." 28 C.F.R. § 513.42(a). For copies you can attach to something, the route is a Freedom of Information Act request. He must mark "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST" on the face of the letter and on the envelope, describe the records and the approximate dates, and give his full name, address, date and place of birth. If he wants them sent to you, he must include a signature sample verified and dated within three months. 28 C.F.R. § 513.61(c).
You can also make that request yourself as his authorized representative, "on receipt of the inmate's or former inmate's written authorization," which must be "dated within three (3) months of the date of the request letter." 28 C.F.R. § 513.63.
Send it certified and keep a copy. The 30 day clock runs from the warden's receipt, so a certified mail receipt is worth more than a memory of mailing it. Date every letter.
If you want help with the release plan and the records, send us a message or call the Prisoner Legal Aid Family Help Line at 786-408-5073 or text 727-635-0600. We prepare the paperwork and connect families with independent civil rights attorneys.
What the law actually requires
The judge "may reduce the term of imprisonment ... after considering the factors set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, if it finds that ... extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction." 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i).
It says "may," not "shall," so nothing is automatic, and the judge still weighs the ordinary sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). This is also not something he earns with a clean conduct record. Good conduct helps. It is not the reason.
What counts has long been tied to his own circumstances. The Sentencing Commission's policy statement has for decades listed reasons including "terminal illness," "a permanent physical or medical condition," and "[t]he death or incapacitation of the defendant's only family members capable of caring for the defendant's minor child." Fernandez v. United States, No. 24-556 (U.S. May 28, 2026). A condition that is permanent and serious, not only one that is terminal, sits inside this law.
Before 2018 only the Bureau could ask a court for this. The First Step Act changed that, and now "prisoners may file their own compassionate release motions." Fernandez, No. 24-556. Two decisions from May 2026 then narrowed what the motion can carry.
A claim that his conviction was wrong does not belong in this motion. The Court held that "challenging the validity of a conviction through a compassionate release motion" goes around the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2255, and that "a reason is not" compelling "if Congress has channeled it through the postconviction statutes." Fernandez, No. 24-556. That argument belongs in a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255(a), which lets a federal prisoner "move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence."
The fact that he would get much less time under today's law is also not enough on its own, because "nonretroactive amendments to criminal penalties are the norm." Rutherford, No. 24-820.
Neither decision touched the thing you actually have. His health.
The clocks, and the traps
- 30 days, from receipt. The clock in § 3582(c)(1)(A) runs from the warden's receipt, not from the day you mailed it.
- A warden's denial is not the end. "When an inmate's request is denied by the Warden, the inmate will receive written notice and a statement of reasons for the denial. The inmate may appeal the denial through the Administrative Remedy Procedure." 28 C.F.R. § 571.63(a). That is the BP-9 chain. A denial by the General Counsel instead "constitutes a final administrative decision." § 571.63(b).
- The Bureau's internal test is stricter than the statute. The Bureau uses this authority only "in particularly extraordinary or compelling circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen by the court at the time of sentencing." 28 C.F.R. § 571.60. That is the Bureau's standard for filing the motion itself; the court applies the statute. A condition the judge already knew about is a harder sell to the Bureau, so how much worse it has become is the part worth documenting.
A short checklist
- Write the request to the warden today, with "medical condition" in the first sentence.
- Build the release plan: address, the person he would live with, the clinic, and who pays.
- Ask for his medical file, through him or as his authorized representative with written authorization dated within three months.
- Send it certified and keep the dated receipt.
- Mark the 30th day after receipt on a calendar.
- If the warden denies it, get the written reasons and start the appeal.
- Keep the conviction arguments out of this motion.
The next thing to do
Write the request this week and start the release plan tonight. Nobody in there can build that for him. If you want a second set of eyes before it goes to the warden, send us a message or call the Prisoner Legal Aid Family Help Line at 786-408-5073 or text 727-635-0600.
If the care itself is the problem and not only the sentence, that is a different claim. Start with what families can do about medical care in custody, then see what to gather before you ask and what the two 2026 Supreme Court decisions changed.
And if a stranger has called offering to get him out for a fee, read this first.
More on this subject: all articles on this topic.
Common questions
Does he have to be dying to qualify?
No. The statute gives terminal illness special protections, but the Sentencing Commission's list of extraordinary and compelling reasons has long included a permanent physical or medical condition as well. The judge still has to find the reasons extraordinary and compelling, and still weighs the ordinary sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
Can I send the request in for him?
Yes. The Bureau's own rule says a request made by another person on behalf of an inmate is processed the same way as his own. If he has a terminal illness diagnosis, or if he is physically or mentally unable to submit it himself, the statute requires the Bureau to tell his partner and family members that they may prepare and submit it and to accept and process what they send.
How long before he can go to the judge?
Thirty days from the day the warden received the request, or sooner if he has fully exhausted the Bureau's appeals from a refusal. The statute says whichever of those comes first. Send the request by certified mail so you can prove the date the warden received it.
Can we argue in the same motion that his conviction was wrong?
No, and trying will cost him. In May 2026 the Supreme Court held that challenging the validity of a conviction through a compassionate release motion goes around the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2255. A claim that the conviction itself is invalid belongs in a § 2255 motion.
He would get far less time under today's law. Is that enough?
Not on its own. In Rutherford v. United States the Supreme Court said the gap between an older sentence and what today's law would give is not an extraordinary and compelling reason, because changes to criminal penalties are normally not retroactive. His medical condition can be a reason, and that is where the motion belongs.
What if the warden never answers?
Thirty days from receipt opens the door to the court anyway. If the warden denies it instead, he must give written notice and a statement of reasons, and that denial can be appealed through the Bureau's Administrative Remedy Procedure.
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