There is no official court form for compassionate release. It is a motion filed in your criminal case. The statute has a hard gate in front of it, and two of the arguments people most often reached for are now foreclosed.

Clear the exhaustion gate

Submit a request to the warden of your facility asking the Bureau of Prisons to file a motion on your behalf. Date it and keep a copy.
You may then file your own motion once you have either fully exhausted all administrative rights to appeal the BOP's failure to bring a motion, or 30 days have lapsed from the warden's receipt of your request — whichever is earlier.
That 30-day path is the shorter one in most cases. Track the receipt date carefully; it is what the clock runs from.

Two arguments that no longer work

Do not argue your conviction is invalid. In Fernandez v. United States (May 28, 2026), the Court held that the supposed invalidity of a conviction is not among the extraordinary and compelling reasons justifying compassionate release; a prisoner attacking the conviction must proceed under § 2255.
Do not rest on a nonretroactive change in sentencing law. In Rutherford v. United States (same day), the Court held that a disparity created by a nonretroactive change — by itself or combined with other factors — cannot make a prisoner eligible, and that the Sentencing Commission's policy statement is invalid to the extent it says otherwise.
Both decisions are about the type of argument, not the severity of your circumstances. A genuine, personal extraordinary-and-compelling reason is still a live claim.

Build the record

Gather documentation for the reason you are actually asserting — medical records, provider statements, family circumstance documentation — rather than describing it in the motion alone.
Address the § 3553(a) factors directly. The court must consider them, and a motion that ignores them leaves the government's strongest response unanswered.
Include a concrete release plan: where you would live, who you would live with, what you would do.
Attach your exhaustion proof — the dated request to the warden and any response.

Primary authority

Every item on this page was checked against the sources above before publication — see our editorial standards.

Need the document prepared? Call 786-408-5073 or email info@prisonerlegalaid.com.

Not a prediction of any outcome. Deadlines and local rules vary by district — confirm them against your own court's rules and your own record.

Compassionate Release Preparation Checklist

Clear the exhaustion gate

Two arguments that no longer work

Build the record

Articles that go with this checklist