Center for Prison Reform National Call Agenda
Wednesday, August 20, 2014 – 2 – 2:30 PM EST
Call-In Number: (605) 562-3140
Participant code: 408388#
(Note: The call-in number will be the same every week, at the same time)
NOTE: There will be no call next week (Wed, Aug 27). We’ll see everyone again on Wed, Sep 3!
Next call: Wednesday, September 3, 2014, 2-2:30PM EST
Executive Summary
We will have a call every Wednesday at 2 PM EST regarding the Center for Prison Reform (CPR). CPR is a non-profit coalition organized to promote rehabilitation for those that are incarcerated. We are particularly focused on legislation that is in the Senate and sponsored by Senators Cornyn, Portman and Whitehouse. It has passed the Judiciary Committee. We have much work to do in the House of Representatives and also the US Senate in order to ensure this legislation reaches the President’s desk by the end of this calendar year.
Coalition Building
Please list us as a resource on your website (www.centerforprisonreform.org)
If your organization or your allies want to join our coalition, please do so at www.centerforprisonreform.org/alliance
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.
Coalition Members
- ACLU (www.aclu.org)
o Ann Lambert – alambert@aclum.org
o Jesselyn McCurdy – jmccurdy@aclu.org
- Aleph Institute
o Rabbi Aaron Lipskar – aaron@aleph-institute.org
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (www.afsp.org)
o Trevor Summerfield – summerfield@afsp.org
- Bella and Stella Foundation
o Lloyd Rubin – rubin004@gmail.com
- Human Rights Defense Center
o Paul Wright – pwright@prisonlegalnews.org
- Legal Action Center (www.lac.org)
o Gabrielle de la Gueronniere – gdelagueronniere@lac-dc.org
- Right on Crime (www.rightoncrime.com)
o Marc Levin – mlevin@texaspolicy.com
- Vera Institute of Justice (www.vera.org)
o Christine Leonard – cleonard@vera.org
- Williams and Jensen
o Matthew B Hoekstra – MBHoekstra@wms-jen.com
o Eric Stewart – estewart@wms-jen.com
- Woody Kaplan – woodyaclu@aol.com
Potential Coalition Members
- Brennan Center for Justice (www.brennancenter.org) – contacted
- Catholic Family Center (http://www.cfcrochester.org/) – contacted
- CATO Institute (www.cato.org) – contacted
- Council of State and Local Governments (www.csg.org)
- Families Against Mandatory Minimums (www.famm.org)
- Federal Cure (www.fedcure.org) – contacted
- Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) – contacted
- Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (www.jointcenter.org)
- JustFaith Ministries (www.justfaith.org) – contacted
- Justice Fellowship, at Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org) – contacted
- The Marshall Project (www.themarshallproject.org)
- Massachusetts State Harm Reduction Coalition (www.massdecarcerate.org) – contacted
- NAACP (www.naacp.org) – email sent to Hilary Shelton, Senior VP for Advocacy 8/4/14
- National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (www.nacdl.org) – contacted
- National Council of La Raza (www.nclr.org) – email sent to Eric Rodriguez & Clarissa Martinez de Castro, VP & Deputy VP Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation 8/4/14
- National Cure (www.curenational.org) – contacted
- Open Society Justice Initiative (www.opensocietyfoundations.org) – contacted
- The Sentencing Project (www.sentencingproject.org) – contacted
- SF BayView (www.sfbayview.com) – contacted
- State Prison Bureaus
Website
http://centerforprisonreform.org (website launched on Wednesday, July 16, 2014)
We will be available to take coalition members and allies from the website. There will be a section for newsletter and national update call subscribers. Please check the website for latest information regarding the Cornyn-Portman-Whitehouse legislation and its progress.
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.
The Center for Prison Reform’s Newsletter is available at http://goo.gl/Pgvuih
Donate to Center for Prison Reform via PayPal http://centerforprisonreform.org/donate/
Social Media
We will secure sites and post to the following media: Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter.
Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/centerforprisonreform)
Twitter: (https://twitter.com/reformprison)
Further Resources
We have developed a one page document for Republicans (“Why Prison Reform?”).
Please find attached a Letter of Endorsement for your group or organization to approve.
In the Senate
There are now 32 US Senators co-sponsoring the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014 (S. 1410), sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin [IL], which focuses on removing the statutory minimum sentence for a number of non-violent crimes. There are also 50 members of the US House co-sponsoring the House version of the bill (H.R. 3382)
It will also require the Attorney General to report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committee on how the money saved from this Act will in turn be used to mitigate the present problems of overcrowding in federal prisons.
https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/1410
Cornyn-Portman-Whitehouse Legislation
The Cornyn-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.
-
1675 Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act of 2014
|
Cosponsors of S. 1675:
Sen Blumenthal, Richard [CT] – 3/10/2014
Sen Cornyn, John [TX] – 3/10/2014
Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] – 3/10/2014
Sen Lee, Mike [UT] – 3/10/2014
Sen Paul, Rand [KY] – 7/10/2014
Sen Portman, Rob [OH] – 11/13/2013
Sen Rubio, Marco [FL] – 5/14/2014
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] – 3/10/2014
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 Dick Durbin – email sent to Senator Durbin’s scheduler 8/4/14, left voicemail for Mara (202.225.3951) on 8/11/14
Senator Harry Reid (D), Majority Leader – contacted 8/11/14
Senator Mitch McConnell (R), Minority Leader – contacted 8/11/14
Senator Cory Booker (D), REDEEM Act – Edwina met with Danny Smith on 8/12/2014
Senator Rand Paul (R), REDEEM Act – meeting scheduled for Friday 8/29 with Bill Easley (Legislative Assistant) – billy_easley@paul.senate.gov
Senate Judiciary Committee
– Chuck Grassley (R), Ranking Member
– Orrin G. Hatch (R) – contacted 8/11/14
– Jeff Sessions (R) – meeting scheduled for Thursday 8/28 at 11AM with Rachel Tucker (Judiciary Counsel)
– John Cornyn (R) – contacted 8/11/14
– Michael S. Lee (R) – contacted 8/11/14
– Ted Cruz (R) – contacted 8/11/14
– Jeff Flake (R) – contacted 8/11/14
– S. Whitehouse (D) – Edwina met with Michael Fisher on 8/12/2014
Senator Fred Ansell (R), Counsel on the Judiciary
Republican Rachel Tucker (Judiciary Scheduler)
Republican David Glaccum (Judiciary Staff)
Meetings are being arranged to start on 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 Goodlate, Virginia, Chairman (113th) | John Conyers, Michigan, Ranking Member |
| Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin | Jerrold Nadler, New York |
| Howard Coble, North Carolina | Bobby Scott, Virginia |
| Lamar S. Smith, Texas, Former Chairman (112th) | Mel Watt, North Carolina |
| Steve Chabot, Ohio | Zoe Lofgren, California |
| Spencer Bachus, Alabama | Sheila Jackson-Lee, Texas |
| Darrell Issa, California | Steve Cohen, Tennessee |
| Randy Forbes, Virginia | Hank Johnson, Georgia |
| Steve King, Iowa | Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico |
| Trent Franks, Arizona | Judy Chu, California |
| Louie Gohmert, Texas | Ted Deutch, Florida |
| Jim Jordan, Ohio | Luis Gutierrez, Illinois |
| Ted Poe, Texas | Karen Bass, California |
| Jason Chaffetz, Utah | Cedric Richmond, Louisiana |
| Tom Marino, Pennsylvania | Suzan DelBene, Washington |
| Trey Gowdy, South Carolina | Joe Garcia, Florida |
| Mark Amodei, Nevada | Hakeem Jeffries, New York |
| Raúl Labrador, Idaho | David Cicilline, Rhode Island |
| Blake Farenthold, Texas | |
| George Holding, North Carolina | |
| Doug Collins, Georgia | |
| Ron DeSantis, Florida | |
| Jason T. Smith, Missouri |
House Leadership
We need to determine the level of interest shown by the current Republican and Democratic leadership in the House.
Appointments for meetings with House of Representatives are currently being sought.
House Committee on the Judiciary
– Caroline Lynch
– Sarah Allen
– Rob Parameture (202.225.3951)
– Rayburn
Representative Raul Labrador (R), cosponsor of Smarter Sentencing Act
Representative Jason Chaffets (R), cosponsor of Public Safety Enhancement Act HR 2656
(202) 225-7751
Had a meeting with Vanessa Chen on Thursday 8/7/2014
Executive Branch
The US Sentencing Commission decided last week to make almost 50,000 federal prisoners, convicted of non-violent crimes, eligible for reduced sentences. This was met with some resistance by Prosecutors who feared reopening more cases would overcrowd the courts.
The White House is already working on prison reforms through its drug policy reforms (http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/drugpolicyreform) and the Second Chance Act (http://csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/projects/second-chance-act/).
White House
– Domestic Policy Council
– Office of Public Affairs
– Office of Legislative Affairs
Department of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs
Bureau of Prisons (public or legislative affairs office)
Judicial Branch
US Sentencing Commission
The Commission Staff is holding a briefing for the sentencing advocacy community on their priorities for the 2014-15 Amendment Cycle. This is not a meeting on amendment-specific proposals, but rather an opportunity to speak generally with staff on the Commission’s new priorities.
The briefing on the priorities will take place on Wednesday, September 3 at 1:00 p.m. at the Commission’s offices at the Thurgood Marshall Judiciary Building, One Columbus Circle, NE, Suite 2500, Washington, DC 20002.
Please let Kira Antell know if you or others in your office plan to attend the briefing so I can arrange for access to the building. (202) 502-4544, KAntell@ussc.gov