New Prison Reform Bill Moving Through U.S. Congress
Prisons all over the United States are bursting at the seams. Literally. They are overflowing. Many often housing more inmates than they were designed to hold. Which in turn leads to overcrowding, increased violence among prisoners, budget constraints that result in poor quality food, and substandard medical care. But that might be about to change.
There is a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, known as the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, currently moving through Congress. It was recently voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. If it is ultimately approved by both Houses and signed by the President, it would address a number of prison-related issues all around the country.
The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, if passed, aims to reform federal sentencing laws. It will also change the way criminal justice is applied throughout the United States. From a sentencing reform standpoint, the bill would:
- Broaden the existing ‘safety valve’, allowing judges more discretion in sentencing lower-level non-violent offenders
- Reduce and restrict enhanced sentencing for those with prior drug felonies
- Narrow the scope of mandatory minimum sentences, focusing on the most serious drug offenders and violent criminals, and
- Ensure that the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 is retroactively applied to those convicted of specific drug crimes.
With regard to correctional facilities, and the application of criminal justice, the bill would:
- Work to create a post-sentencing risk and needs assessment system, which would help to reduce recidivism by ensuring that the basic needs of released convicts are met
- Develop tools to promote recovery from drug and alcohol abuse and dependence, and reduce further dependence
- Work to promote more successful reentry into society for released prisoners, and
- Address the issue of solitary confinement for juveniles.
In addition, the bill addresses a great number of other issues relating to our overpopulated prisons. For example, it would allow qualified prisoners to participate in recidivism reduction programs. Inmates could then earn credits toward an early release. It would also allow for the early release of certain non-violent prisoners over 60 years of age, or those who are terminally ill, or in nursing care.
The prison systems here in the U.S. need a phenomenal amount of work before we can call them “successful.” And this bill just might be a step in the right direction. Only time will tell. But as defense attorneys, we are strongly in favor of any bill that promotes rehabilitation over incarceration, and second chances instead of sentences.