Justice Department plan to free thousands of inmates is just the beginning

The Justice Department plan to reduce sentences for some 6,000 nonviolent drug offenders in federal prisons is part of a larger effort to make US justice 'work smarter.'

|
Rich Pedroncelli/AP/File
Reporters inspect one of the two-tiered cell pods in the Security Housing Unit at the Pelican Bay State Prison near Crescent City, Calif, Aug. 17, 2011. The Justice Department plans to release a record 6,000 prisoners in an effort to alleviate overcrowding in prisons, according to a Washington Post report on Monday.

Some 6,000 drug offenders in federal prisons around the country will be set free at the end of the month, the Washington Post reported Tuesday afternoon, as part of punishment reductions put in place by the US Sentencing Commission last year which have been made retroactive.

The mass release, the largest in federal prison history, represents a significant step in President Obama’s efforts to reform the criminal justice system, a mission now picking up steam with both parties in Congress

The “Drugs Minus Two” policy from the US Sentencing Commission, an independent agency responsible for determining sentences for federal crimes, went into effect last November, giving the Department of Justice a year to prepare for the release, the Post’s Sari Horwitz reports.

Most former inmates will be supervised in programs such as halfway houses, and roughly one in three are foreign nationals who will immediately be deported.

Critics are concerned about an explosion of crime, particularly considering that nearly half of the nation’s 100,000 drug offenders in federal prisons may eventually qualify for early release.

The Justice Department points to a study arguing that recidivism rates do not vary significantly between prisoners with early release and those who serve a full sentence.

They also emphasize that early release is not automatic; eligible inmates will have to petition a judge. Early releasers are still serving “substantial prison sentences,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told the Post.

Prison reform advocates frequently point to social justice ideals as their motive, but practical concerns also play a role: there’s simply no room for all the people America jails. At 724 prisoners per 100,000 people, it’s the highest rate in the world.

Only recently has locking people up become such an American tradition. As Ms. Horwitz reports, the US population has grown by a third since 1980, while federal prison populations jumped by 800 percent, putting them 40 percent over capacity. It’s an expense that threatens other Justice priorities, from fighting violent crime to human trafficking, Department officials told Horwitz in February.

“We’re at a moment where some good people in both parties, Republicans and Democrats, and folks all across the country are coming together around ideas to make the system work smarter, make it work better,” Mr. Obama said in July, announcing a complementary effort to commute sentences for some nonviolent drug offenders. 

His claim that folks “are coming together” is now bolstered by a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill presented to Congress this week, which “its authors hailed not only as the most important federal justice overhaul in a generation, but also as an example of how Congress can work when lawmakers are willing to compromise,” says The New York Times.

The bill seeks to make prisoners’ sentences more proportionate to their crimes, chipping away at "tough on drugs" measures now deemed excessive, and would outlaw juvenile solitary confinement.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Justice Department plan to free thousands of inmates is just the beginning
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/1006/Justice-Department-plan-to-free-thousands-of-inmates-is-just-the-beginning
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe