Center for Prison Reform National Call Agenda

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 – 2 – 2:30 PM EST

Participant code: 408388#

(Note: The call-in number will be the same every week, at the same time)

Next call: Wednesday, July 23, 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 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.

Website

http://centerforprisonreform.org (website launch on Wednesday)

We will be available to take coalition members and allies. There will be a section for newsletter and national update call subscribers. Please check the website for latest information regarding the 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 criminals —

Social Media

We will secure sites and post to the following media: Reddit, Facebook, Twitter

Further Resources Needed

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.

In the Senate

Portman-Whitehouse Legislation

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.

1675 Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act of 2014

All Information (except text)	Text of Legislation	CRS Summary	Major Congressional Actions All Congressional Actions All Congressional Actions with Amendments With links to Congressional Record pages, votes,reports
Titles	Cosponsors (8)	Committees
Related Bills	Amendments
CBO Cost Estimates	Subjects

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 Reid (Majority Leader)

Senator Mitch McConnell (Minority Leader)

Senator Cory Booker (REDEEM Act)

Senator Rand Paul (REDEEM Act)

US House of Representatives

We need a champion in the US House, and it would be ideal if they were on the House Judiciary Committee.

We propose a introductory briefing with as many members and their staff on this Committee. Once we find a sponsor in the House, we will also need a bipartisan cosponsor to gain full Committee support.

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 Bachusof 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

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/).

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.