The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that federal inmates who were released early due to the COVID-19 pandemic can remain at home. The DOJ order to the Bureau of Prisons reverses a previous decision that would have required many to return back to prison. “Thousands of people on home confinement have reconnected with their families, have found gainful employment, and have followed the rules,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Tuesday. “In light of today’s Office of Legal Counsel opinion, I have directed that the Department engage in a rulemaking process to ensure that the Department lives up to the letter and the spirit of the CARES Act.” The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel previously had issued an opinion saying the Bureau of Prisons had no legal authority to keep inmates at home once the COVID-19 emergency had subsided. “We will exercise our authority so that those …