BY Lynn Espejo

South East Bureau Chief

The Midnight Report

I reported yesterday on the situation with Raquel Esquivel, who is pregnant, and who was released under the Cares Act in April 2020.  Raquel was recently placed back in prison by orders of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff at the RRM San Antonio Regional Office. located in the South-Central Region of the BOP.  What Raquel is accused of doing would normally be a minor infraction handled by the halfway house, most likely resulting in a loss of privilege or social pass. 

However, the BOP instead charged her with escape and returned her to prison.  Raquel denies the BOP's allegations and has cell phone records and witness statements to back up her claims.  None of that mattered to the BOP--Raquel is currently being held at the Val Verde Correctional Institution in Del Rio, Texas until at such time the BOP can transfer her back to one of its facilities.

Raquel's case highlights a more serious problem that appears to be happening frequently in the South-Central Region of the BOP.  The South-Central Region covers the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.  And has seen inmates who were released under the Cares Act taken back for minor infractions, which would normally be handled as such, by the halfway houses overseeing their release.  These violations seem to be driven by an email order from BOP staff in the South-Central Region, that came out in December 2020.  

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