Tag Archives: armstrong

Senate Unanimously Passes Prison Oversight Bill – Update for July 11, 2024

Leave a comment

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week off (our first in several years). Now, we’re back at it…

“ACCOUNTABILITY, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT”

adultsupervision240711The Senate passed legislation yesterday to bring adult oversight to what the Associated Press calls “the crisis-plagued” Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Federal Prison Oversight Act (S. 1401), sponsored by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D.GA), Mike Braun (R-IN), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Shelley Caputo (R-WV), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), sailed through the Senate on a unanimous vote.

The House of Representatives passed the same legislation as H.R. 3019 last May by a lopsided 392-2 vote. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden for signature.

The bill provides for the appointment of an ombudsman within the Dept of Justice who will investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of incarcerated people and staff. The ombudsman would establish a secure hotline and online form for family members, friends, and representatives of incarcerated people to submit complaints and inquiries. The measure prohibits BOP retaliation against those who complain or institute any investigation or inspection under this bill.

inspector240711FPOA also requires the DOJ Inspector General to conduct risk-based inspections of all 122 federal prisons, identify deficiencies, recommend changes to address shortcomings and assign each facility a risk score. Higher-risk facilities would then receive more frequent inspections. The IG must report its findings and recommendations to Congress and the public, and the BOP will be required to respond to inspection reports with a corrective action plan within 60 days.

The Associated Press — whose reporters Michael Balsamo and Michael Sisak deserve kudos for their relentless reporting on BOP peccadillos — said that the bill comes “in the wake of rampant sexual abuse and other criminal misconduct by staff, chronic understaffing, escapes and high-profile [inmate] deaths.”

Ossoff, Durbin, and Braun launched the Senate Bipartisan Prison Policy Working Group in February 2022. That group’s efforts resulted in the bill’s passage in the Senate. Reps Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Lucy McBath (D-GA) backed the House version of the bill.

“We applaud today’s actions by the Senate in passing this landmark bill, which paves the way to ensuring conditions in prisons are safer and more humane for staff and incarcerated people alike,” Heather Rice-Minus, president and CEO of Prison Fellowship, said in a statement. Prison Fellowship, a Christian nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families, blitzed Capitol Hill three weeks ago with a “Day of Action,” during which over 40 Prison Fellowship employees, most of which were formerly incarcerated, visited 29 congressional offices to urge passage of FPOA.

Benjamin Franklin famously answered a question posed to him by Elizabeth Willing Powel – who asked him after the Constitutional Convention in 1789 whether the document delivered a republic or a monarchy – with the response, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

The FPOA establishes within the DOJ a mechanism intended to make the BOP accountable for its management of the custody of 158,646 inmates. True, under Director Colette Peters, we eschew “inmate” for the “woker” term “Adult in Custody.”

BOPsexharassment191209Catchy name (and we all love acronyms). However, those AICs continue to suffer sexual abuse, harassment, gross mistreatment, and denial of their statutory right to release and placement in community programs. It brings to mind a pseudo-Franklin quip (that is actually just a line in the Broadway plan-turned-movie musical “1776”): It “is like calling an ox a bull. He’s thankful for the honor, but he’d much rather have restored what’s rightfully his.”

Calling inmates “AICs” so far has been both the most visible and the most hollow change ordered by Director Peters. It has not moved the needle on the treatment of the AICs (although the female inmates being bussed from FCI Dublin would probably have preferred being called “AICs” to being called “bitches.”

Congress may figure that FPOA solves its federal prison problem, but asking the DOJ – the same folks who have permitted the situation at its component agency BOP to fester and continue to impede judicial efforts to address BOP misconduct – to exercise “oversight” hardly ensures accountability.

We now may have BOP accountability. If we can keep it.

Associated Press, Congress OKs bill overhauling oversight of troubled federal Bureau of Prisons (July 10, 2024)

Federal Prison Oversight Act (S.1401)

Sen Jon Ossoff, Senate Passes Sens. Ossoff, Braun, & Durbin, Rep. McBath & Armstrong’s Bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act (July 10, 2024)

Federal Prison Oversight Act (HR 3019)

Prison Fellowship, Prison Fellowship Applauds U.S. Senate for Passing the Federal Prison Oversight Act (July 10, 2024)

– Thomas L. Root

Acquitted Conduct Rides Again on Capitol Hill – Update for November 7, 2023

Leave a comment

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

HOUSE COMMITTEE SENDS ACQUITTED CONDUCT BILL TO FULL HOUSE

The House of Representative Committee on the Judiciary last Wednesday unanimously approved the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023 (H.R. 5430). Spearheaded by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), the bipartisan measure was approved 23-0.

acquitted230106

In September, Cohen introduced the bipartisan measure with Rep Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), with Sens Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) introducing a companion bill, S.2788, in the Senate. This legislation would end the practice of judges increasing sentences based on conduct for which a defendant has been acquitted. It will now advance to the full House of Representatives for a floor vote. The Senate has yet to act on the measure.

During markup of the bill, Cohen said, “Just about every Supreme Court Justice who’s been around lately – John Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia… Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Clarence Thomas, going down to Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have all said this needs to be changed. So with that I would ask that we… arrive at justice. People should be convicted of proven crimes and sentenced for those crimes.”

The Sentencing Commission considered prohibited acquitted conduct from being used in sentencing last winter but decided the issue needed more review. On June 30, the Supreme Court denied review on 13 different cases raising the issue.

Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman said in his Sentencing Law and Policy blog last week that “this notable vote committee certainly does not ensure Congress will get this bill to the desk of the President, but it should serve as a strong message to the U.S. Sentencing Commission that it should have bipartisan support for any acquitted conduct reforms it might be considering during its current amendment cycle.”

H.R. 5430, Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023

S. 2788, Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023

Sentencing Law and Policy, Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act receives unanimous bipartisan support in US House Judiciary Committee (November 3, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

‘Acquitted Conduct’ Act is Back – Update for Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Leave a comment

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

COMING AROUND AGAIN

The Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023 (HR 5430) – looking a lot like the doomed 2021 version – landed in the Congressional bill hopper last week.

acquitted230106Reps Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) introduced a House version and Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the bipartisan, bicameral bill on the Senate side. The legislation would end the practice of judges increasing sentences based on conduct for which a defendant has been acquitted by a jury.

“The right of criminal defendants to be judged by a jury of their peers is a founding principle of our criminal justice system spelled out in the Constitution. Allowing federal judges to enhance sentences for defendants based on conduct for which they were acquitted by a jury is not right and must end,” said Cohen, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee.

The Supreme Court, despite signals over the past decade that it would address acquitted conduct sentencing as a 6th Amendment violation, denied certiorari to a baker’s dozen cases on the last day of last term, after sitting on petitions seeking review for months. The US Sentencing Commission has named review of such sentencing as a priority for review in the coming year.

The Act would amend 18 USC § 3661 to preclude a court from considering, except for purposes of mitigating a sentence, acquitted conduct at sentencing.

“Acquitted conduct” would include acts for which a person was adjudicated not guilty after trial or dismissed on an FRCrimP 29 motion for acquittal.

HR 5430, Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023

Press Release, Cohen, Armstrong, Durbin and Grassley Introduce Bipartisan, Bicameral Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act (Sep 13)

– Thomas L. Root

BOP Oversight Bill Resurrected – Update for May 4, 2023

Leave a comment

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

BILL TO ESTABLISH BOP OVERSIGHT RE-INTRODUCED

A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers introduced legislation last week to establish a new oversight system for the BOP.

adult220225The Federal Prison Oversight Act (no bill number yet) is sponsored by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Richard Durbin (D-IL), in the Senate and Representatives Lucy McBath (D-GA) and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) in the House. The same legislators sponsored the same legislation when it was introduced last fall, but the measures died at the end of the 117th Congress.

The bills are a response to press reports that exposed systemic corruption in the BOP, several sex abuse scandals involving male BOP staff and female inmates, and increased congressional scrutiny. Ossoff, Braun and Durbin are founding members of the Senate Bipartisan Prison Policy Working Group.

“It’s no secret that BOP has been plagued by misconduct,” Durbin said. “One investigation after another has revealed a culture of abuse, mismanagement, corruption, torture, and death that reaches to the highest levels. And yet it still operates without any meaningful independent oversight.”

investigate170724FOPA would require DOJ to create a prisons ombudsman to field complaints about prison conditions and compel the Department’s Inspector General to evaluate risks and abuses at all 122 BOP facilities. Under the bill, the DOJ Inspector General would conduct risk-based inspections of all federal prison facilities, provide recommendations to address deficiencies and assign each facility a risk score. Higher-risk facilities would then receive more frequent inspections.

The IG would report findings and recommendations to Congress and the public, and the BOP would be required to respond with a corrective action plan within 60 days.

Press Release, Sens. Ossoff, Braun, Durbin Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Overhaul Federal Prison Oversight (April 26, 2023)

The Appeal, Congress Seeks to Create New Independent Federal Prison Oversight Body (April 26, 2023)

ABC News, After investigating abuse in prison system, senators propose new oversight law (April 26, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

What Does Oyer Plan To Do About the Backlog? – Update for May 26, 2022

Leave a comment

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

WHAT WILL NEW PARDON ATTORNEY DO WITH CLEMENCY BACKLOG, LEGISLATORS WANT TO KNOW

A bipartisan group of representatives has demanded information from Elizabeth Oyer, the new Pardon Attorney, about her plans for processing the 17,400-strong backlog of clemency petitions pending (some for years).

paperwork171019“The growing backlog of clemency petitions undermines the promise of a fair and just criminal legal system,” Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), David Joyce (R-OH), and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) wrote in a letter last week to Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer. “Every application represents a person, a family, and a community. And every delayed response represents a miscarriage of justice, a dysfunctional process, and a policy failure in desperate need of repair.”

The letter demanded a full report from Oyer by June 7 that includes “applicant demographic data (including age, race/ethnicity, gender, parental status, state of residence, incarceration status), month and year of application submission, representation by an attorney, type of clemency request, type of relief sought, type of offense(s), and office currently reviewing application.”

Bloomberg, Lawmakers Press DOJ on Backlog of 17,000 Clemency Petitions (May 18, 2022)

Letter to Elizabeth Oyer (May 17, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

Great Clemency Idea Or Stupid Political Stunt? – Update for March 18, 2021

Leave a comment

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

WASHINGTON WEEK: SEEKING CLEMENCY FOR SOME LADIES
"I won!"
“I won!”

Congresswomen Cori Bush (D-Missouri) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) last Friday joined with the National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls’ initiative calling on President Joseph Biden to grant 100 women clemency in his first 100 days in office. Speaking at an event held outside the White House, Pressley told the President “to exercise his clemency authority,” adding he can grant clemency to the 100 women “by the stroke of a pen.”

Vox said several weeks ago that “advocates want Biden to act quickly” on clemency. “They point to epidemics of Covid-19 in jails and prisons, which could be eased if there were fewer people in those settings to spread the coronavirus. And they argue that acting too slowly would repeat the mistakes of Biden’s predecessors, who, if they moved on clemency at all, did so too late during their terms to do the long, hard work of broader reforms.”

clemencyjack161229Acting quickly on clemency is a great idea, but “100 women in 100 days” is nothing but a political stunt. The greatest danger in a proposal like this one is that if Biden knuckles under, 100 inmates get clemency, and then the Administration will check clemency off its “to-do” list, moving on to the next domestic issue. The problem with the clemency system – beyond the obvious, that 14,000 petitions are pending, many for years – is that the arbitrariness and bias of a system that relies on mercy from the very people who make their careers locking up defendants has a systemic infirmity that must be addressed. A political stunt that relies on an alliterative label – ‘100 in 100…’, like there’s something significant about the base-10 number system – simply detracts from the serious work to be done while delivering commonsense mercy in a scattershot and ineffective way.

The well-meaning people behind this have little idea of the effect of their Lafayette Park theatre on the inmates. I have had several emails this week from women inmates informing me that a list of 100 inmates was handed to the President in the Oval Office, and that he was ready to act. They wondered if they were on the list. Oh, if life only imitated rumor…

Why not simply distribute 151,703 scratch-off cards to the BOP population, with only 100 winners among them? That approach would make as much sense, while adding a bit of drama and excitement to the event.

crackpowder160606Last Tuesday, Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), Bobby Scott (D-Virginia), Kelly Armstrong (R-North Dakota), and Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) introduced the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act in the House. The bipartisan legislation would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and retroactively apply it to those already convicted or sentenced.

The measure is identical to the measure introduced in the Senate by Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) five weeks ago.

USA Today, ‘No justice in destroying lives’: Pressley, Bush call on Biden to grant clemency to 100 women in 100 days (March 12, 2021)

Vox, Biden’s secret weapon for criminal justice reform (March 1, 2021)

Atlanta Daily World, Congress Introduces Bill to Eliminate Sentencing Disparity Between Crack and Powder Cocaine (March 10, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root