Public Comment: Disciplinary Segregation and Prohibited Act Code Changes
The proposed language would unjustly punish people incarcerated at Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities using the harshest possible means for communication on social media, without regard to whether the communication has a legitimate legal or personal purpose. We believe that a full and total ban would be excessive in its own right, but a ban with significant sanctions for violations is an extreme policy.
Supreme Court Decision on Sentencing a ‘Call to Congressional Action’: Justice Action Network
A Friday decision from the Supreme Court that split justices by how they interpret the word “and” is garnering renewed interest in federal sentencing and incarceration rates. In Pulsifer v. U.S., Mark E. Pulsifer, who was sentenced for two non-violent drug charges related to selling methamphetamine, argued that he was eligible for relief under former President Trump’s First Step Act because he did not meet all three exclusionary criteria in a list set out in the legislation.
U.S. SENATE HOLDS BIPARTISAN HEARINGS ON DISASTROUS STATE OF U.S. PRISONS AND THE URGENT NEED FOR REFORM
Today, the Senate held two important hearings on the urgent need for reform in prisons. The Senate Judiciary convened a full committee hearing in an effort to find ways to prevent deaths of incarcerated individuals in federal prisons, while the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism held a subsequent hearing examining the crisis of inadequate correctional staffing and its toll on both corrections officers and incarcerated persons.
Coming in the wake of a new bombshell DOJ watchdog report showing over 300 preventable deaths in federal prisons over an eight-year period, the Senatorial hearings covered issues related to the operation and management of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that have contributed to preventable deaths in custody, including the overuse of solitary confinement, BOP employee misconduct, inadequate medical care, poor facilities maintenance, and critical staffing shortages.
DOJ Non-Medical Deaths Report is an Urgent Call to Action
Justice Action Network released the following statement in response to a Thursday report by the Department of Justice that revealed most non-medical deaths in custody could have been prevented:
“The report released today by the Department of Justice is an urgent call to action. No family should ever have to receive a call that a loved one has died while incarcerated simply because a facility was understaffed, under-resourced or out of compliance with BOP policy,” said Inimai Chettiar, Deputy Director for the Justice Action Network “There is strong bipartisan support for comprehensive oversight of our nation’s prisons, and it is long past time for congress to enact the kind of transparency and accountability that will prevent deaths like these in the future.
Comments on the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Notice of Proposed Amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines
The proposed amendments are under consideration as more than 150,000 people are currently serving sentences in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, an agency that is chronically understaffed and struggling to manage the safety of staff and incarcerated people. It is imperative that the Commission consider amendments to the Guidelines that consider this backdrop…
In a Moment of Fractious Disunity in the House, Parties Come Together To Advance Bipartisan Sentencing Reform
Introduced in September by the bipartisan duo of Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN), the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023 redefines "acquitted conduct" to include acts for which a person was criminally charged and adjudicated not guilty after trial in a Federal, State, Tribal, or Juvenile court, or acts underlying a criminal charge or juvenile information dismissed upon a motion for acquittal, and precludes a court from considering those acts in sentencing unless it’s for the intention of mitigating the sentence.
Bipartisan Expungement Legislation Unites NAACP, American Conservative Union, Others
Representatives Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) joined Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX) to introduce the Kenneth P. Thompson Begin Again Act, a bipartisan bill that would remove the age requirement for those seeking an expungement order for a first-time federal drug possession offense.
FORMER GOP CONGRESSMAN COLLINS CORRECTS THE RECORD ON CLAIMS BY CANDIDATE RON DESANTIS ON PUBLIC SAFETY
“No one wants to see Republicans be successful in 2024 more than I do,” said former Congressman Doug Collins, author of the First Step Act. “Voters have made it clear: Americans want stronger economies and safer communities, and the First Step Act has been delivering on both those priorities.
BIPARTISAN, BICAMERAL COALITION INCLUDING SENATORS BOOKER (D-NJ) AND GRAHAM (R-SC), LEADER JEFFRIES (D-NY) AND REP. ARMSTRONG (R-ND) RENEW CONGRESSIONAL EFFORT TO FIX COCAINE SENTENCING DISPARITY
EQUAL Act Would Finally Eliminate Crack vs. Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity That Disproportionately Impacts Black Communities, is Widely Supported by Law Eenforcement & Civil Rights Leaders
NEWS FROM CONGRESS: CREATION OF SECOND CHANCE TASK FORCE DRAWS PRAISE FROM NATION’S LARGEST BIPARTISAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE GROUP
The task force, which was created to promote policies that will improve access to employment and other opportunities for people who are reentering the community after spending time in prison or the justice system, met for the first time today to learn more about challenges the BOP has faced in maintaining successful reentry programming for the roughly 50,000 people who are released from federal prisons each year.
NEWS: SENATE FAILURE TO INCLUDE EQUAL ACT IN OMNIBUS BILL WILL HAVE TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES
Early this morning, Congressional leaders released text of an agreed end-of-year "omnibus" spending bill to fund the federal government, and the EQUAL Act, one of the final issues on the table for inclusion, failed to make the cut. The Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act of 2021, or EQUAL Act, would have eliminated the 18:1 federal sentencing disparity between drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a relic of the War on Drugs.
LEADING ILLINOIS CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON CHAIRMAN DURBIN TO INCLUDE THE EQUAL ACT IN THE NDAA
Today, leading Illinois civil rights and criminal justice organizations sent a letter to Chairman Durbin (D-IL) urging him to keep the EQUAL Act in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is now being negotiated. As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a lead sponsor of the EQUAL Act, the Senator is uniquely positioned to advocate for this legislation. The House of Representatives has already included the EQUAL Act in its version of the NDAA.
LEADING NEW YORK CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS CALL ON LEADER SCHUMER TO PASS THE EQUAL ACT IN THE NDAA
Today, leading New York civil rights and criminal justice organizations sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urging him to keep the EQUAL Act in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is now being negotiated in the Senate. The House of Representatives has already included the EQUAL Act in its version of the NDAA, passed in July.
“OUR ECONOMY DEPENDS ON IT, OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM DEPENDS ON IT, OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT.”
Yesterday, Democratic and Republican lawmakers joined a virtual event on the importance of second chance legislation pending in Congress—the Clean Slate and Fresh Start Acts. These bills would expand automated record sealing at the federal and state levels, giving individuals who have served their time and remained crime-free better access to employment, education, and housing.
NBC News: Thousands of federal inmates still await early release under Trump-era First Step Act
Thousands of nonviolent federal prisoners eligible for early release under a promising Trump-era law remain locked up nearly four years later because of inadequate implementation, confusion and bureaucratic delays, prisoner advocacy groups, affected inmates and former federal prison officials say.