We will be adding email addresses, a dedicated phone number, and a PayPal donate button that will go to a merchant banking account in case there are any interested donors. We are a non-profit but donations will not be tax-deductible as a charity donation, as we are mainly focused on lobbying. We can also recruit Fellows — like Adrian Raines who have done MRI research on the brains of violent criminal, etc.
We will secure sites and post to the following media: Reddit, Facebook, Twitter. The FB and Twitter sites have been secured and we will hear more today about their use.
We need to develop over the next week a one-page handout on the benefits of the Portman-Whitehouse legislation as a leave-behind for meetings with potential staff and coalition members. We need to gather papers, studies, and surveys that support the case for this new legislation. Many of this research has been identified and placed on the website over the past week.
The Portman-Whitehouse legislation combines elements of S. 1783, the Federal Prison Reform Act, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), along with Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). It would address this growing problem by building on reforms that have proven successful at the state level.
Among other provisions, this legislation:
• Requires all eligible offenders to undergo regular risk assessments to determine whether an offender has a low, medium, or high-risk of recidivism.
• Excludes all sex offenders, terrorism offenders, violent offenders, repeat offenders, major organized crime offenders, and major fraud offenders from participation in the program.
• Encourages participation in recidivism reduction programs and productive activities, like prison jobs.
• Contains no new authorized spending, and requires the mandated recidivism reduction programs to be provided by faith-based groups, non-profits, or through savings generated by the legislation.
• Allows earned time credits for low-risk prisoners of up to 10 days for every 30 days that the prisoner is successfully completing a recidivism reduction program or productive activity.
• Allows medium risk prisoners to earn a 5 day for 30 day time credit while successfully completing recidivism reduction programs and productive activities. These offenders would only be able to use these credits if they demonstrate a substantial reduction in their probability of recidivism as a result of participation in programs.
• Does not allow high risk offenders to use any time credits unless they reduce their risk levels to a lower tier.
• Would allow certain low risk offenders who demonstrate exemplary behavior to spend the final portion of their earned credit time on community supervision.
S. 1675 Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act of 2014
Senate Action Items
We need to schedule appointments with key Senate offices.
We propose the following list but would like to add to it.
Senator Reid (Majority Leader)
Senator Mitch McConnell (Minority Leader)
Senator Cory Booker (REDEEM Act)
Senator Rand Paul (REDEEM Act)
Meetings are being arranged to start on next Tuesday, July 29th. Please let
Edwina Rogers know if you want to attend any of these meetings. She can be reached at
edwinarogers@jrcdc.us.
There are items that need correcting in the Senate bill like the fraud exception.
US House of Representatives
House Bill HR 2656 is the house counterpart bill. The Public Safety Enhancement Act of 2013. Bill Sponsors: Rep. Chaffetz, et al. There are 25 cosponsors (14 D and 11 R). In the House Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations. The bill will enhance public safety by improving the effective and efficiency of the Federal prison system with offender risk and needs assessments, individual risk reduction incentives and rewards, and risk and recidivism reduction.
Co Sponsors are: Howard Coble, John Conyers, Hakeem Jeffries, Tom Marino, dam Schiff, Robby Scott, Tony Cardenas, Henry Johnson, Steve Cohen, Alan Lowenthal, Eleanor Norton, Beto O’Rourke, Marc Veasey, Spencer Bachus, Theodore Deutch, Richard Hanna, Ted Poe, Judy Chu, Jerroid Nadler, Susan Brooks, Trey Gowdy, Rob Bishop, Paul ryan, Blake Farenthold, Raul Labrador.
House Judiciary Committee
Majority (Republicans) |
Minority (Democrats) |
- Bob Goodlatte, Virginia, Chairman (113th)
- Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin
- Howard Coble, North Carolina
- Lamar S. Smith, Texas, former Chairman (112th)
- Steve Chabot, Ohio
- Spencer Bachus of Alabama [1]
- Darrell Issa, California
- Randy Forbes, Virginia
- Steve King, Iowa
- Trent Franks, Arizona
- Louie Gohmert, Texas
- Jim Jordan, Ohio
- Ted Poe, Texas
- Jason Chaffetz, Utah
- Tom Marino, Pennsylvania
- Trey Gowdy, South Carolina
- Mark Amodei, Nevada
- Raúl Labrador, Idaho
- Blake Farenthold, Texas
- George Holding, North Carolina
- Doug Collins, Georgia
- Ron DeSantis, Florida
- Jason T. Smith, Missouri
|
- John Conyers, Michigan, Ranking Member
- Jerrold Nadler, New York
- Bobby Scott, Virginia
- Mel Watt, North Carolina
- Zoe Lofgren, California
- Sheila Jackson-Lee, Texas
- Steve Cohen, Tennessee
- Hank Johnson, Georgia
- Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico
- Judy Chu, California
- Ted Deutch, Florida
- Luis Gutierrez, Illinois
- Karen Bass, California
- Cedric Richmond, Louisiana
- Suzan DelBene, Washington
- Joe Garcia, Florida
- Hakeem Jeffries, New York
- David Cicilline, Rhode Island
|
House Leadership
We need to determine the level of interest shown by the current Republican and Democratic leadership in the House.
Executive Branch
Coalition Building
We need to quickly secure as many members as possible for this reform coalition. We should focus on faith-based groups, minority groups, rehabilitation service providers and professionals, family advocacy groups, suicide prevention groups, and so on.
Potential Coalition Members
Aleph Institute (Rabbi Aaron Lipskar)
Bella and Stella Foundation (Lloyd Rubin)
Human Rights Defense Center (Paul Wright)