Federal prison officials are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to delay a Cleveland Judge's order to release medically vulnerable inmates at the Elkton Correctional Institution due to COVID-19.  

An application for an administrative stay was filed Thursday by the warden of FCI Elkton and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, Judge James S. Gwin with the Northern District Court of Ohio ordered the Bureau of Prisons to start expediting the release of 837 medically vulnerable prisoners currently held at FCI Elkton.

Prisoners released from FCI Elkton would be through home confinement and compassionate release.

The judge cited "poor progress in transferring the subclass members out of Elkton through the various means referenced in the Court's preliminary injunction order."

The new order states, "Of this 837 vulnerable population, [the Bureau of Prisons] has made only minimal effort to get at-risk individuals out of harm's way."

As of May 8, five inmates were approved for home confinement, and one inmate qualified for compassionate release.