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.
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.
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.