Tag Archives: sentence reform and corrections act

Trump Hits the Throttle on Reform Bills – Update for August 13, 2018

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WHITE HOUSE, SENATE CUTTING A DEAL ON AMENDING FIRST STEP

The FIRST STEP Act, which has stalled in the Senate because of opposition from top Republicans who want more sentencing relief than the bill offers, got a jump start in the last week, and, according to White House sources, may be set for a vote in the Senate before the end of the month.

firststepB180814Behind the scenes, the administration and legislators are hammering out an agreement that would add significant changes in the nation’s mandatory sentencing laws to the widely popular prison reform bill that passed the House earlier this year, the Washington Post said, crediting officials familiar with the discussions.

President Trump met with a number of state governors during  his golf course vacation at Bedminster, New Jersey, last week, holding a “roundtable” that was intended to signal the important to the President of getting a Senate vote on FIRST STEP.

During Thursday’s meeting, Trump said the administration was working to “refine” the House-backed measure in the Senate. “I have to say, we have tremendous political support. It surprises me. I thought that when we started this journey about a year ago, I thought we would not have a lot of political support,” Trump said, flanked by state officials and top aides. “People I would least suspect are behind it, 100 percent.”

deal180723The deal being discussed would add four sentence reform measures from the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (legislation sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois) and backed by a broad coalition of Senate Democrats and Republicans) to the House bill. Ohio State law professor Doug Berman said last week in his Sentencing Law and Policy blog that he believed the revised measure will breeze its way to passage in the Senate, with a vote of in favor of 80% or more.

“We are trying to get a Senate vote in the next two weeks,” an administration said. White House officials hope that Trump’s meeting with governors will spark action in the Senate and prompt leaders to put legislation on the summer calendar. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has kept the Senate in session. 

“There can’t be any doubt that by having this as the only major event on the president’s schedule that he is laser focused on this,” said a Trump aide. “We think that with this momentum and with the coalition behind it, that this can actually happen.”

firststep180814At the session with governors, Trump said, “Our first duty is to our citizens, including those who have taken the wrong path but are seeking redemption and a new beginning.  That’s people that have been in prison, and they come out and they’re having a hard time… We’ve passed the FIRST STEP Act through the House, and we’re working very hard in the Senate to refine it and pass it into law.  We think we’ll be successful in that regard.  The bill expands vocational educational programs to eligible federal inmates so that more of them can learn a trade.  And that’s what we’re doing.  We’re teaching them trades.  We’re teaching them different things that they can put into good use, and put into use to get jobs.”

ABC News reported last Thursday that “the Senate is now expected to move forward with a modified version of the House bill that will reduce the current mandatory life sentence for certain drug offenses from a life sentence to 25 years, prohibit the doubling of mandatory sentences for certain gun and drug offenses, broaden judicial discretion, and make retroactive the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act that narrowed the discrepancy in sentencing guidelines for crack versus powdered cocaine.”

Jon Ponder, an associate minister at a Las Vegas church who has two priors for robbery, was one of the ministers who met with the President at the White House in late July. Ponder, founder of HOPE for Prisoners, a program that helps more former inmates adjust to life after prison by providing financial advice, personal mentoring and connections to employers, said he believes Trump supports inmate re-entry programs as much as he does.

sincerity180814“I think that something would really have to be wrong with that man to sit down in that room and have the conversation with the (ministers) that he did, if he was not being sincere about this,” Ponder said. “I believe that he spoke from his heart. He shared in that room that he was very compassionate about this, and about the importance of people who are fighting for a second chance.”


Washington Post, Trump huddles with governors, other officials on prison overhaul (Aug. 9, 2018)

McClatchy Newspapers, Trump, Congress try to breathe life into long-delayed criminal justice reform package (Aug. 8, 2018)

Washington Examiner, Jared Kushner helps Trump pave rare bipartisan path to big win (Aug. 9, 2018)

ABC News, Trump has privately expressed openness to broad criminal justice reform (Aug. 9, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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Bickering Continues on FIRST STEP Act – Update for July 30, 2018

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CLOCK RUNS WHILE PARTISANS FUME OVER FIRST STEP ACT

senatevacation180730The Senate will be working through August while the House takes a break, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has a Supreme Court nomination, as well as a looming midterm election disaster, to address. The pressure remains on McConnell to bring the FIRST STEP Act to a vote as well.

The problem is that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley continues to back the Sentence Reform and Corrections Act of 2017, his pet bill, and refusing to back FIRST STEP unless the bill is amended to adopt some of the SRCA provisions.

Last week, Georgetown law professor Shon Hopwood (who is both a skilled litigator and a former BOP prisoner) blasted an opinion piece written by the president of progressive criminal justice reform group JustLeadershipUSA in which she called for opposition to FIRST STEP as dangerous and suggested that home confinement was as bad or worse than being locked up. Hopwood wrote,

Arguing against a bill that will move thousands of people from federal prisons to back home with their families because we can’t get Congress to release people outright, is about as shocking a proposition as any I’ve ever heard from a criminal justice reform organization dedicated to ending mass incarceration. JLUSA would have a hard time convincing anyone currently in federal prison of the position that somehow home confinement is worse than people remaining in prison… Although we are trying to create a political climate to eventually move to a system of full release good-time credits, that doesn’t mean we should deny current prisoners and their families this relief.

Some complain that FIRST STEP is far from perfect... so we should wait for the next bus.
Some complain that FIRST STEP is far from perfect… so we should wait for the next bus.

Hopwood admits that the bill is far from perfect, but he writes that “First Step along with some sentencing additions is the best bill we can get now in the current political climate. If we don’t take First Step now, we will be waiting at least another two years for any possibility of federal prison reform. If the past thirty years is a guide, we are probably waiting much, much longer. Given the stakes, there should be an urgency on all sides to get this done.”

Meanwhile, director of the conservative Center for Urban Renewal and Education Star Parker complained that Senate Republicans ought to be rolling out the red carpet for FIRST STEP, especially because the White House is behind it. “Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Senator Grassley should see this as an opportunity for the Republican-controlled Congress to show it can act decisively on a major national problem,” she wrote. “Holding up prison reform to add on the complex issue of sentencing reform will result in what I said above: either nothing will happen or we’ll get one big unworkable bill.”

Prison Professors, Those in Federal Prison and Their Families Can’t Wait for the Ideal Reform Bill. A Response to Just Leadership (July 25, 2018)

Creators Syndicate, Senate Should Pass the First Step Act (July 25, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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Legislative Standoff Is Dimming Hopes for Prison Reform – Update for July 23, 2018

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ARE POLITICS KILLING HOPES FOR PRISON REFORM?

Legislators and interest groups on both sides of the current Senate tussle over whether to pass the FIRST STEP Act or the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 continue to stake out their positions, and concern is rising that the political bickering may doom both bills.

Some complain that FIRST STEP is far from perfect... so we should wait for the next bus.
Some complain that FIRST STEP is far from perfect… so we should wait for the next bus.

It has now been nearly two months since FIRST STEP passed the House by a huge margin and it has now been more than five months since the SRCA, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a significant margin.

Last week, two executives from the conservative reform group FreedomWorks complained in Washington Examiner that “the FIRST STEP Act hasn’t moved in the Senate. [The bill], led by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Grassley has said that at least some SRCA-style sentencing reforms would have to be added to the FIRST STEP Act before it can move forward.”

Few in the Senate question the merits of FIRST STEP. An earlier version of the bill was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee 15-2 in 2014. But politics could condemn any criminal justice reform. “Democrats,” the FreedomWorks piece said, “with their eyes on the party’s presidential nomination view criminal justice reform as a campaign issue. Selfishly killing the FIRST STEP Act for little more than political gain risks infecting criminal justice reform with the same toxicity that has plagued immigration reform proponents, not to mention that it also denies much-needed relief to communities, families, and individuals who have been severely affected by crime.”

deal180723The FreedomWorks officials said the next step must be to strike a deal in the Senate that will add modest sentencing reforms to make the legislation acceptable to Grassley without dividing the Republican conference. If there is any infighting among the Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will be unwilling to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. “It is a delicate balance to strike,” the FreedomWorks executives said, “but the Senate, which often refers to itself as the greatest deliberative body in the world, should be up for the challenge. On bipartisan legislation that has the backing of the White House, working out a deal on FIRST STEP should be a layup.”

These days, passage of any federal criminal justice reform seems to be more like a three-pointer from mid-court. Last week, Grassley and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) doubled down on their SRCA position in an opinion piece in the Washington Examiner, urging passage of both mens rea reform and the SRCA:

Mens rea reform, in addition to sentencing and prison reform, is an essential part of the criminal justice reform constellation… We firmly believe that mens rea reform is an important piece of the broader criminal justice reform landscape. Together with the bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which we both support, the Mens Rea Reform Act will improve fairness and clarity in our criminal justice system.

adams180723Grassley, current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Hatch, a former chair of that Committee, are both legislators with more-than-average juice in the Senate. Grassley may be able to trade his current importance to the White House (as chair of Judiciary, he is key to getting Judge Brett Kavanaugh through the Supreme Court confirmation process) for Trump pressuring McConnell to bring SRCA to a vote. But although Washington is sweltering under the July sun and the end of the year seems far off, there are not that many legislative days left in the calendar year. Something needs to happen soon.

Meanwhile, the interest groups continue to check in, adding to the chaos. Last week, two police chiefs – one from the D.C. metro police force and the other, a former chief of New Orleans and Nashville – wrote in The Hill that “police and prosecutors need Congress to take meaningful action, like moving forward with a bipartisan solution hammered out by Grassley and Durbin. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would shorten unnecessarily long sentences for low-level offenses, while also improving prison conditions and reentry services for men and women coming home from prison.”

Such public pressure does not much help to convince McConnell that scheduling either bill for a vote – likely, a showdown risking Republican fratricide – is a good idea.

Other criminal justice reformers are taking shots at FIRST STEP. DeAnna Hoskins, the president of JustLeadershipUSA, a progressive criminal justice reform group, blasted FIRST STEP last week, arguing, “The need and demand for reform are real. The FIRST STEP Act is not only a step backward; it invites a scary future. We need good proposals that address the structural racism baked into our justice system. We can pursue good proposals at all levels of government — proposals that are human-centered, values-driven, and that truly have an impact on decarcerating and decriminalizing communities across the country.”

She dismisses FIRST STEP’s process that lets inmate earn more halfway house and home confinement time. “For those released from prison on credit time, an electronic shackle awaits,” she writes, “branding people with a tool that tracks their every movement, expands the carceral state into our neighborhoods and significantly lowers the threshold for reincarceration.”

Our observation is that, lucky for her, Ms. Hoskins probably has never done federal time. Had she been a guest of the BOP, she would understand that just about every inmate in the system  would gladly have the “carceral state” expanded into his or her home neighborhood by doing as much incarceration time at home – ankle bracelet and all – as possible. One inmate told us, “The best day I ever had locked up was worse than the worst day I ever spent at home.”

perfection180723Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman, writing in his Sentencing Law and Policy blog last week, complained that Grassley and Durbin are hurting momentum. “At this point I am eager to hear any news about any movement in the Senate with respect to the FIRST STEP Act or the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act… Prez Trump has suggested he will sign whatever bill gets delivered to his desk. But as the summer marches on, I am struggling to remain optimistic that the full Senate will get to vote on any of these reform proposals anytime soon.”

At the same time, Berman denounced Hoskins’ buzz-word policy nonsense. Her blather (although Prof. Berman is more polite in his terminology) is “disturbing hyperbole… Like the author here, I would like to see reform that goes beyond the FIRST STEP Act. But broader reforms have been stalled by leaders in DC who are likely to be in place at least until 2020 if not later. Hoping and waiting for something better leaves current prisoners and their families waiting and waiting and waiting… But rather than seeing a politic consensus for “transforming our criminal justice system,” I just see a lot of political division among advocates for reform that seems to be making achieving any reform that much harder.”

The Hill, Too many Americans go to prison but Congress can fix this problem (July 17, 2018)

Washington Examiner, Time for bipartisan deal-making on criminal justice reform (July 18, 2018)

Washington Examiner, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch: Mens rea reform and the criminal justice reform constellation (July 19, 2018)

The Hill, The FIRST STEP Act sets up a dangerous future (July 20, 2018)

Sentencing Law and Policy, Another attack on the FIRST STEP Act failing to acknowledge modern political realities (July 21, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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Congress is Back to Work, with Criminal Justice Reform Still Pending – Update for July 9, 2018

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CONGRESS RETURNS TO TOWN WITH CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM STILL ON ITS PLATE

The House and Senate were not in session last week, as legislators celebrated the July 4th holiday however they do it. The Senate returns today, and the House tomorrow, with the criminal justice debate still hot, and an announcement about a new Supreme Court justice looming.

grassley180604A recap: The House has passed the FIRST STEP Act, which proposes a number of prison reforms, including a full 54 days a year of good time, better compassionate release and elderly prisoner release policies, and credits for programming that can be used to earn more halfway house and home confinement. The bill is stalled in the Senate, because the senior Republican and Democrat on the Judiciary Committee – Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) – do not want the FIRST STEP’s prison reform without sentencing reform bundled along with it.

The sentencing reform proposals are contained in the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017. SRCA proposes to make the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive for crack defendants sentenced before the 2010 FSA, to unstack 18 USC 924(c) sentences, and to reduce a substantial number of the mandatory minimums in 21 USC 841(b), which are generally known as “851 enhancements.” As of the end of June, Grassley and Durbin were pressing President Trump to support SRCA as well as FIRST STEP, and we were observing that as of 9 pm this evening (when Trump names his Supreme Court nominee), he is going to need a lot of help from Grassley to get the nominee through the Judiciary Committee.

Trump is needed, because all indications are that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does not intend to bring FIRST STEP or SRCA to a Senate vote without White House approval. If the bills are not voted on by the end of the year, they will die, and the whole process will have to start over next January.

sessions180215Of course, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is dead set against any reduction of mandatory minimums or extension of the FSA, and his conflict with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, over reform has not helped McConnell find his backbone. In a thoughtful opinion piece in The Washington Post last Thursday, Michael Gerson noted the success Texas have had with modifying harsh mandatory minimums, and suggested that the evidence means

that the criminal-justice views of the attorney general are far to the right of the Texas state legislature, which puts him in small and disturbing company. It means that Sessions’ opposition to sentencing reform is rooted in vindictiveness and ideology rather than a conservative respect for facts and outcomes. And it means that Sessions has learned nothing from federalism, which he seems to respect only when it fits his preconceptions.

Gerson argued that prison reform should succeed because of “trans-partisanship,” which is defined as “agreement on policy goals driven by divergent, deeply held ideological beliefs.” Liberals see racism and unfairness in the criminal justice system. Fiscal conservatives see wasted resources. Religious activists see damaged lives. Gerson wrote, “All these convictions converge at one point: We should treat offenders as humans, with different stories and different needs, instead of casting them all into the same pit of despair.”

trainwreck180305Also speaking practically, the magazine American Conservative last Friday noted that mandatory minimums and other policies that make America the incarceration capital of the world, a product of the lock-’em-up mentality, have “tarnished the image of Republicans and conservatives in the minds of many. Though Republicans have greatly increased their political power in recent elections, they have nevertheless alienated many of the fastest growing segments of the electorate, casting a pall across the impressive electoral successes of the past decade.”

In a lengthy article, the authors called for the “extension of conservative principles to criminal justice policies.” They observed that “right-leaning organizations, armed with polling data that show significant backing from many conservatives, are mobilizing on criminal justice issues. It’s time to leverage these efforts to rebuild the conservative identity. Perhaps no other policy area holds more potential than criminal justice reform.”

Washington Post, No more pits of despair. Offenders are still humans (July 4, 2018)

The American Conservative, Where the Right Went Wrong on Criminal Justice (July 6, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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Amid the Capitol Hill Ruckus, There’s Still FIRST STEP – Update for June 21, 2018

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KUSHNER LOBBYING SENATE IN SUPPORT OF FIRST STEP ACT

It’s not like there isn’t any turmoil in Washington this week, with crying kids in cages all along the Rio Grande, Paul Manafort in a cage somewhere in Virginia, and a state supreme court chief justice being fitted for a cage by the Feds. But there remains legislative work to be done, and Jared Kushner – while not a legislator – has been doing it.

nascarwreck180622Kushner met with Senators on Capitol Hill last week to whip support for the White House-backed FIRST STEP Act (H.R. 5682) (an acronym for the unwieldy “Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act“) that passed in the House last month. But despite his efforts (as well as editorial support for FIRST STEP and the Sentence Reform and Corrections Act [S.1917] appearing in both left- and right-leaning publications this week), Congress appears to be watching the unfolding immigration “family separation” situation like mesmerized NASCAR fans watching a five-car pileup.

Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Kamala Harris (D-California) and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) remain adamantly opposed to any bill that does not modify mandatory minimums. Nevertheless, the conservative Koch-backed group Freedom Partners announced last week that it was embarking on a spending pitch urging senators to support FIRST STEP despite Republican disagreement. The first round of mailings from Freedom Partners targets 15 Democratic senators and two Republicans: Grassley and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

CNN commentator Van Jones, a progressive who founded the criminal justice reform advocacy group #cut50, has been working closely with Kushner urging passage of prison reform. He told The Marshall Project this week:

Jones180622
                              Van Jones

Where is this strong bipartisan coalition for sentencing reform [that some claim exists]? I know that they were able to get the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act out of committee in judiciary, which is good on the Senate side, but there is zero chance that that bill is going to be brought for a vote by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in its present form, and there’s not even a strategy to get McConnell to check it out, that I can tell. A lot of the Republicans do want sentencing reform, but they can’t start there with a critical mass of their other colleagues.

An opinion piece in The Hill last week noted that “the problem of prison overcrowding and systemic biases against African Americans cannot be solved by presidential pardons alone. Nonetheless, Trump’s attention to these issues might help drive reforms through legislation and prosecutorial decisions. Significant criminal justice reforms are necessary, beginning with addressing the root causes of offending, which include mental illness and lack of family, education, employment and/or social opportunities.”

Axios, Kushner whipping support for prison reform in the Senate (Jun. 12, 2018)

The Hill, Criminal justice reform in the era of reality TV-style government (Jun. 13, 2018)

Politico, Koch group unveils six-figure prison reform campaign (June 11, 2018)

 – Thomas L. Root

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More Steps Taken on FIRST STEP? – Update for June 13, 2018

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THE WIND MAY BE SHIFTING

imageWe have previously reported that the prison reform bill named FIRST STEP Act, H.R. 5682, faces a tough battle in the Senate, starting with the unwillingness of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring it to a vote, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) pledging that no FIRST STEP Act will pass without the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S.1917) being written into FIRST STEP’s provisions.

But it was a wild week in the nation’s capital last week, and as a result, the goal may be closer than ever. In one of Washington’s most interesting plot twists, historic criminal justice reform legislation now finds itself atop Trump’s policy agenda, and one floor vote away from his signature.

A detailed story in Foreign Affairs last week suggested that a deal that includes some first-step changes to harsh sentencing laws is now likelier in the wake of the Alice Johnson commutation of the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson. Even Sessions has said he could support reforms to “stacking” provisions in 18 USC 924(c), which results in first-timers getting three or more stacked 924(c) enhancements for a single course of conduct, with sentences of 62 years or more for what should be a 12-year bit.

While the SRCA proposal to reform what are generally (and misleadingly) called “851” enhancements (provisions in 21 USC 841(b) that double mandatory minimum sentences for prior state felony drug convictions), might not make it, a compromise could include a broader safety valve, which would give judges more discretion to depart from mandatory minimums when circumstances warrant.

compromise180614Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), both longtime SRCA supporters, will be key brokers in any deal. Lee could help bring Democrats such as SRCA supporters Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to the table, and Paul shares a backyard with McConnell, who will determine if the bill even gets a vote.

Also heartening was McConnell’s unpopular announcement last week that the Senate will not take the month of August off, as it usually does, but instead stay in town to complete a lot of unfinished business.

cotton171226All is not roses, however. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), one of the few Americans who believes the country has an “underincarceration problem,” has mounted a guerrilla campaign to undermine FIRST STEP’s support on the right. For example, he is reportedly pushing law-enforcement groups to oppose the bill. His efforts have borne fruit recently, as the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association withdrew its endorsement of the bill after being pressured by Cotton’s office. Also, last week, the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys slammed FIRST STEP, but that group hardly needed Cotton’s urging to do so.

Foreign Affairs, The Art of a Deal on Criminal Justice Reform (June 8, 2018)

Townhall, The FIRST STEP Prison Reform Bill Should Be a No-Brainer (June 8, 2018)

National Review, A Prison-Reform Bill Passed the House 360–59. It’ll Probably Die in the Senate (June 6, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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Truth is Stranger than Fiction: Reality TV Star’s White House Visit May Jump-Start Sentence Reform – Update for June 4, 2018

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WILL THE KARDASHIANS SAVE SENTENCE REFORM?

kardash180604Talk about headlines we never imagined ourselves writing… The twists and turns of federal sentence and prison reform legislation get weirder and weirder. Last week, as Senate Republicans fought one another over whether FIRST STEP Act (H.R. 5682) did enough to benefit prisoners, President Trump had a sit-down in his office with Kim Kardashian over a commutation for Alice Martin, a grandmother doing life at FCI Aliceville, and then pardoned a conservative New York filmmaker who did 8 months in a halfway house over a two-bit campaign finance crime.

So why does this matter to federal prisoners?

To start, The Hill reported last week that the Senate is “under growing pressure” to take up the FIRST STEP Act, which is a priority Trump son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. But Senate negotiators say they are not close to a deal that would allow the bill to move quickly.

grassley180604Instead, the fight is pitting two influential senators, John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), against each other as they back competing bills. “We’ve got work to do here on building consensus… but right now we don’t have it,” Cornyn said last week. The divisions could scuttle any chance that the Trump-backed FIRST STEP becomes law this year.

Both Cornyn and Grassley are signaling they plan to press forward with trying to build support for their own separate bills once the Senate returns to Washington, D.C., this week. “We’re going to take up my bill,” Grassley said, referring to the Sentence Reform and Corrections Act (S.1917). “Or I should say, my bipartisan bill that’s got 28 co-sponsors — equal number Republicans and Democrats… What the House does through [FIRST STEP] is about the equivalent of a spit in the ocean compared to what the problem is of too much imprisonment.”

SRCA would link prison reform to reductions in mandatory minimums for certain drug offenses, correction of stacked 924(c) convictions, and retroactivity of the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act. Both Grassley and Durbin say they’ve made a deal not to separate the prison and sentencing reform components despite pressure from the White House.

sessions180215The Hill reports that SRCA is unlikely to be taken up in the Senate given opposition from Trump officials, chiefly Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. Grassley admitted last week he has not yet convinced Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to bring SRCA to the floor. “You’ve got to remember that McConnell doesn’t like the bill,” Grassley said, “and all I can say is that you ought to let a Republican president who needs a big, bipartisan victory have a bipartisan victory.”

Last week, McConnell told senators, “Look, guys, if you all can get your act together and come up with something that you’re comfortable with, that the president will sign, I’d be willing to take a look at it.”

Enter Kim Kardashian West, reality TV star and wife of Kanye West. Kim, who made early release for federal prisoner Alice Martin. Kardashian visited the White House on Wednesday to urge President Trump to commute the sentence of a 63-year-old grandmother serving life for a first-time drug offense. In pleading her case for a commutation for the inmate, Kardashian seized upon draconian federal sentencing practices that can put low- or midlevel nonviolent offenders away for decades, even life.

kardashian180604Interestingly, Trump – who tends to agree with the last person who spoke to him – tweeted that he and Kardashian had a good visit, and talked about “prison reform and sentencing.” This left some observers hopeful that the President was listening to people other than Sessions, and was about to signal his support for adding some sentencing reform measures to FIRST STEP. At the same time, Trump’s interest in harsh sentencing may help McConnell find some backbone to put FIRST STEP and SRCA to a vote.

Meanwhile, debate continued about the FIRST STEP Act. The liberal opponents of FIRST STEP argue that passing the bill, which lacks any reform of mandatory minimum sentence, would leave Congress and the administration believing they had solved mass incarceration, and thus not willing to address the issues at the heart of the prison problem anytime soon. But the Washington Post suggested this fear is overblown:

If Democrats take control of the House in November, they will be able to revisit the issue anytime they want — but they will have real clout to go along with their passion,” the Post said. “Nothing in the current bill precludes bolder, more comprehensive action when the votes, and the president’s pen, are lined up and ready.

The Hill, Senate grapples with prison reform bill (May 30, 2018)

Washington Post, In prison reform, a little of something is better than a lot of nothing (May 28, 2018)

The Hill, Don’t kick the can down the road on prison reform — now is the time for change (June 1, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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Through a Glass Darkly – FIRST STEP Act’s Chances in the Senate – Update for May 29, 2018

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FUTURE OF THE FIRST STEP ACT IS FAR FROM CLEAR

breeze180530Supporters of a federal criminal justice system overhaul seemed well on their way to victory after the FIRST STEP Act breezed through the House last week on an impressive bipartisan vote. The Act, H.R. 5682, has strong administration backing, including the fingerprints of Jared Kushner, the presidential adviser and son-in-law. It has some important Senate supporters. But a lot of informed people are still predicting that neither the FIRST STEP Act nor any other criminal justice reform bill will pass the Senate this year.

First, senior Senate authors of the long-stalled Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, S.1917 – including Senate Judiciary chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), are steadfastly opposed to FIRST STEP. They consider it an insufficient half-measure for its focus on prison programs without changes in federal sentencing laws. Plus, Grassley is still smarting from his inability to pass SRCA last year, and he says he’s not going down without a fight.

Second, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) is highly unlikely to try to move the bill through the Senate as long as Grassley is opposed to it, according to Republican senators and aides. They say McConnell, who is not that keen on criminal justice legislation in general, is definitely uninterested in circumventing his Judiciary Committee chairman and provoking an intra-party fight that would eat up weeks of floor time. A Republican senator said flatly of McConnell’s view of the bill right now: “It’s not on the priority list.” If McConnell decides not to bring the bill to a vote, no one can force him to do so.

sessions180322Third, impressive groups of opponents to FIRST STEP are lining up on both sides of the aisle. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III Sessions, a former senator himself, opposes SRCA and is lukewarm about FIRST STEP. And even the narrower FIRST STEP bill will probably face opposition on the right from Sessions’ allies, like Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), who once memorably said America has an “under-incarceration problem” and is reportedly stirring up opposition to FIRST STEP among law enforcement groups.

At the same time, FIRST STEP is opposed by some civil-rights groups, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and a coalition of leading Senate Democrats, including Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), and Kamala Harris (D-California). In a letter last week, the senators said FIRST STEP would be “a step backwards” and that prison reform would fail if Congress did not simultaneously overhaul the nation’s sentencing laws. Also signing the letter were Representatives Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and John Lewis D-Georgia).

donotwaste180530Last Wednesday, a group of senators asked McConnell for a last-ditch negotiation session to seek an acceptable compromise. SRCA backers fear this may be the only chance for years to come to pass major criminal justice reform. “You don’t get many opportunities around here to do anything meaningful or substantive,” said Durbin, a chief author of the sentencing provisions. “Let’s not waste this one. Let’s get this right.”

Although Trump supports FIRST STEP, it’s unclear how he would react if Congress sent him a bill that included SRCA-style sentencing reforms. A prison reform-only bill gives Trump what he wants: To look tough to his base by not budging on sentences while also showing evangelicals he believes in “second chances.” Adding sentence reform might be too much for him.

New York Times, Why some senators who want a criminal justice overhaul oppose a prisons bill (May 26, 2018)

New York magazine, Can Kushner’s Patchy Prison-Reform Bill Survive the Senate? (May 23, 2018)

The Marshall Report, Is The “First Step Act” Real Reform? (May 22, 2018)

Politico, Trump-backed prisons bill DOA in the Senate (May 21, 2018)

Senate Judiciary Committee release, For criminal justice bill to pass the Senate, it must include sentencing reform (May 22, 2018)

 The Atlantic, Democrats Split Over Trump’s Prison Pitch (May 23, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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The Thrillah on the Hill-ah – Update for May 14, 2018

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

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HOUSE BILL MAY FALL VICTIM TO SENATE DEMAND THAT IT DO MORE

rumble180515With the House Judiciary Committee last week rewriting the old Prison Redemption and the Reform Act into the new FIRST STEP Act (H.R. 5682), the action on criminal justice reform turns to the Senate, where FIRST STEP is already running into pushback. Let’s get ready to rumble.

The White House-backed bill picked up some mo after the House Judiciary Committee passed it onto the floor with a bipartisan 15-5 vote. But some Senate are deadlocked about how to approach the bill, threatening the chances of it getting signed into law. Ironically, the senators raising the most opposition are supporters – not opponents – of criminal justice reform. In fact, some of the traditional foes of criminal justice reform, conservative groups, sound like unabashed supporters. And those who you’d think were most likely to support reform are opposing it.

“Although today’s vote is a positive sign, we still have a long way to go. As the bill’s title suggests, this is the first step,” said conservative nonprofit FreedomWorks. “Congress must do more to ensure that those who are re-entering society and want a better life for themselves and their families have meaningful opportunities to work toward that goal. Another part of the discussion is sentencing reform. Sooner or later, Congress will have to revisit this issue to ensure that we are reforming sentences for low-level, nonviolent offenders and reserving limited prison space for violent offenders.”

vacancy180515But Kate Gotsch of the Sentencing Project complains that the bill does not account for the fact that halfway houses likely won’t have space to accommodate the inmates who accrue more earned-time credit. Progressive groups also point out that while the legislation encourages – even rewards – prisoners for participation in rehabilitative programs, the Bureau of Prisons is struggling with a horrifically-long wait list for the programs it currently offers. And many facilities don’t have the staff to run additional programs. Much of BOP Director Mark Inch’s grilling by the House Oversight Committee last month came over severe cuts in halfway house time for inmates and for the BOP’s practice of “augmentation,” where teachers, nurses and other professional staff at federal prisons are required to drop their regular duties to fill shifts for correctional officers in the housing units.

Nevertheless, FIRST STEP co-sponsor, Rep. Hakeen Jeffries (D-N.Y.) predicted last Friday the bill would come up for a House vote by the end of May.

Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, both want a broader criminal justice measure including the mandatory minimum sentencing reforms they previously tucked into the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, S.1917, which passed out of the Judiciary Committee last February. The SRCA, which picked up two more co-sponsors last week, is now sponsored by 14 Democrats and 13 Republicans. It slashes mandatory minimums for drug offenses, makes the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive for inmates with pre-2010 crack sentences, and brings relief to people with stacked 924(c) convictions.

sessions180322Despite White House opposition, spearheaded by Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, both senators say they’ve made a deal to not split prison reform from changes to sentencing guidelines. But The Hill predicted last weekend that combining sentencing reform with prison reform will “all but kill any chance of getting sentencing reform through the GOP-controlled Congress.

Grassley’s and Durbin’s approach is poison to both to Sessions and to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who refused to bring SRCA to a vote in the last session of Congress despite sponsorship of 40” senators. And some of the bill’s most vocal opponents, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and David Perdue (R-Georgia), are some of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) last week introduced a companion bill to the House’s FIRST STEP Act. S. 2795, a bill to provide for programs to help reduce the risk that prisoners will recidivate upon release from prison, represents an effort by some in the Senate to press forward with a narrower bill that would match FIRST STEP. Asked if Sens. Grassley’s and Durbin’s stance was realistic, Cornyn said, “Their opinion matters, but I wouldn’t say that’s the end of the discussion.” 

House Republicans already have made some changes to their prison reform bill in an attempt to win the support needed for it to pass that chamber, but the modifications did not placate Grassley or Durbin, whose support would likely be critical if any legislation is to reach the Senate floor.

In a show of strength, Sen. Cornyn and White House advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner were to tour FCI Seagoville in suburban Dallas last Friday, to tout FIRST STEP. Sen. Cornyn made it, but Kushner skipped out.

kushner180515Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), while saying he’s open to either path forward on the issue, is skeptical that a prison reform bill alone would be able to get the 60 votes needed to ultimately clear the Senate. “It’s how we get the votes, and I’m not sure how you do [it with just that]. The way that that evolved was by talking about pairing the two,” he said, referring to both sentence reform and prison reform.

Sen. Grassley appears to be closing the door for now on negotiating with Cornyn. He said he and Durbin are pushing forward with their bill, adding that he’s delivered that message to Kushner several times. “[We’re going] to try to convince the White House that we’re right,” he said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for the president to have a bipartisan victory and to sign it, and that’s exactly what he needs for the midterm election.”

S. 2795: A bill to provide for programs to help reduce the risk that prisoners will recidivate upon release from prison, and for other purposes, Introduced May 7, 2018, by Sens. Cornyn and Whitehouse.

FreedomWorks, FreedomWorks Applauds Important “First Step” In Criminal Justice Reform (May 9, 2018)

The Hill, Trump-backed prison reforms face major obstacles in Senate (May 13, 2018)

Roll Call, Criminal justice overhaul efforts appear stuck (May 11, 2018)

Mother Jones, Jared Kushner’s Prison reform Bill Just got Slightly Less Bad (May 7, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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New Delay on Prison Reform Committee Vote May Jeopardize Passage – Update for April 30, 2018

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

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HOUSE MARKUP OF PRISON REFORM BILL DELAYED AGAIN

roadblock180430Disagreements over provisions in the Prison Reform and Redemption Act, H.R. 3356, backed by the White House, forced House Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R-Virginia) to postpone markup of the bill previously scheduled for last Wednesday, and called into question the future of any type of criminal justice reform.

“We will consider the prison reform bill at the next mark-up of the Committee, which will occur the week of May 7th,” Goodlatte said. “I look forward to considering it then.”

The PRRA, co-sponsored by Reps. Doug Collins (R-Georgia.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), rewards inmates’ completion of programs like drug treatment, adult education classes and vocational training with additional halfway house and home confinement. Any sentencing reform – such as change in mandatory minimums and retroactivity of the Fair Sentencing Act – was left out because of White House and Justice Department pressure.

The Hill reported that House Judiciary Democrats are battling with some Committee Republicans over PRRA provisions that restrict the kinds of programs offered and the kinds of convictions that will be excluded from benefits. Multiple House sources, however, blamed the delay not on House negotiations but instead on a behind-the-scenes opposition campaign from two Senate heavyweights, one from each party.

SRCARIP180430Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) reportedly told House Judiciary panel members to oppose the PRRA unless it adds the sentencing overhaul contained in the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, S.1917, which they co-sponsor and which was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee two months ago.

The Trump administration wants to see a prison-only bill, not the broader SRCA, but that’s not stopping Grassley and Durbin from what one Republican complained was meddling in the House debate. “Frankly, I respect the two senators, but they have enough problems in the Senate,” said Rep. Doug Collins (R-Georgia), one of the PRRA’s authors. “I wish they would actually focus on passing bills over there.”

The PRRA also has been criticized by civil and human rights groups, who have long focused their fight for criminal justice reform on measures that reduce mandatory minimum prison sentences. More than 60 police chiefs and prosecutors wrote to Congress and the White House last week, urging that the PRRA be amended to include mandatory minimums reform. The group, called Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration is concerned that the PRRA doesn’t address sentencing.

“Improving prison conditions and reentry services, on their own, will not adequately solve our high rates of incarceration and recidivism,” the letter says. “Legislation like the Prison Reform and Redemption Act (H.R.3356) and the CORRECTIONS Act (S. 1994) are useful efforts to improve the lives of those in prison. But such efforts should be coupled with efforts to reduce unnecessary incarceration.”

perfect170428Last Friday, leaders of faith-based groups met at the White House to voice their support for the PRRA. The Prison Fellowship, one of the participants, sees demands for sentencing reform as a needless distraction: “The delay in voting on the Prison Reform and Redemption Act in the House of Representatives is a disappointment to Prison Fellowship and the hundreds of thousands of prisoners and families we serve in our programs,” Craig DeRoche, Senior Vice President, Advocacy and Public Policy, said. “There is no disagreement about what is in the bill, the fight is over what has not been put in this legislation—and the people who pay the price for these delays are the men and women that are incarcerated today. Delaying, or even killing these important reforms disregards the hope, dignity, value and potential of the people incarcerated today and will only serve the practical outcome of making America less safe by continuing the current recidivism rate.”

Despite the delay, Rep. Jeffries said he’s confident of a bipartisan agreement soon, and that the bill will pass in May.

The Hill, House Judiciary delays markup of prison reform bill (Apr. 25, 2018)

Politico, Kushner-backed prison reform bill stumbles in House (Apr. 25, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

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