Center for Prison Reform National Call Agenda
Wednesday, September 17, 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)
Next call: Wednesday, September 24, 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, Whitehouse, and Portman. 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. We are also interested in the Smarter Sentencing Act and other legislation with substantive evidence based reforms.
Please find attached an endorsement letter, signed by over 500 organizations, for the Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 2013 (S. 1690/ H.R. 3465) which aims to provide more resources to coordinate reentry services and policies at the state and local levels, ensuring that corrections programs do not simply fuel a revolving door in and out of prison.
The National Academy of Sciences has published a book entitled The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. Please find the summary of this study attached to this email. A downloadable version is available here: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=18613
Please also find attached a short one page introductory letter that we can send to all Judiciary staff in the Senate and the House.
Coalition Building
Please list us as a resource on your website (www.centerforprisonreform.org)
If your organization or your allies want to participate in 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
- 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
- National Cure (www.curenational.org)
o Annelise Hafer – annelise@curenational.org
- 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
- Woody Kaplan – woodyaclu@aol.com
Potential Coalition Members
- ACLU (www.aclu.org)
o Jesselyn McCurdy – jmccurdy@aclu.org
- American Constitution Society (www.ACSlaw.org) – contacted
- 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
- The Heritage Foundation (SEPARATE from the Justice Fellowship) – 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
- Open Society Justice Initiative (www.opensocietyfoundations.org) – contacted
- The Pew Charitable Trusts – Public Safety Performance Project – contacted
- Prisology (www.prisology.org) – contacted
- Public Welfare Foundation – contacted
- The Sentencing Project (www.sentencingproject.org) – contacted
- SF BayView (www.sfbayview.com) – contacted
- State Prison Bureaus
o Alaska Department of Corrections – contacted
o Michigan Department of Corrections – contacted
o New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services – contacted
- Texas Public Policy Foundation – contacted
- Vera Institute of Justice (www.vera.org)
Website
http://centerforprisonreform.org (website launched on Wednesday, July 16, 2014)
We are available to take coalition participants and allies from the website. There is a section for newsletters and national update call subscribers. Please check the website for latest information regarding the Cornyn-Whitehouse-Portman legislation and its progress and other reform legislation.
The Center for Prison Reform’s Newsletter is available at http://goo.gl/Pgvuih
Donate to Center for Prison Reform via PayPal or credit card http://centerforprisonreform.org/donate/
Social Media
We have secured sites and are posting 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.
Please find Dr. Nancy G. La’s (The Urban Institute) Statement to the House Judiciary Committee on July 15, 2014, at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/904631-Lessons-from-the-States-Responsible-Prison-Reform.pdf
The Urban Institute’s Report – “Stemming the Tide: Strategies to Reduce the Growth and Cut the Cost of the Federal Prison System”: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412932-stemming-the-tide.pdf
In the Senate
Senate Judiciary Committee
| Majority (Democrat) | Minority (Republican) |
| Patrick Leahy, Vermont, Chariman(113th) | Chuck Grassley, Iowa, Ranking Member |
| Dianne Feinstein, California | Orrin Hatch, Utah |
| Chuck Schumer, New York | Jeff Sessions, Alabama |
| Dick Durbin, Illinois | Lindsey Graham, South Carolina |
| Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island | John Cornyn, Texas |
| Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota | Mike Lee, Utah |
| Al Franken, Minnesota | Ted Cruz, Texas |
| Chris Coons, Delaware | Jeff Flake, Arizona |
| Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut | |
| Mazie Hirono, Hawaii |
-
1410 Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014
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-Whitehouse-Portman Legislation
-
1675 Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act of 2014
| All Information (except text) | Text of Legislation | CRS Summary | Major Congressional Actions
All Congressional Actions with Amendments |
| Titles | Cosponsors (8) | Committees | |
| Related Bills | Amendments | ||
| CBO Cost Estimates | Subjects |
The Cornyn-Whitehouse-Portman 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.
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 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 – Edwina met with Billy Easley on 9/2/2014
Senate Judiciary Committee
– Chuck Grassley (R), Ranking Member
– Orrin G. Hatch (R) – Edwina met with Jennifer Henderson on 8/28/2014
– Jeff Sessions (R) – Edwina met with Rachael Tucker on 8/28/2014
– John Cornyn (R) – meeting scheduled with Stephen Tausend on 9/3/2014 at 11:00 AM
– Michael S. Lee (R) – contacted 8/11/14
– Sheldon Whitehouse (D) – Edwina met with Michael Fisher on 8/12/2014
– Lindsey Graham (R) – Edwina met with David Glaccum and Sergio Sarkany on 9/2/2014
– Ted Cruz (R) – Edwina is seeking a meeting with Senator Cruz
– Jeff Flake (R) – Edwina met with Senator Flake’s staffmember Gary Barnett on 9/12/2014
Please let Edwina Rogers know if you want to attend any of these meetings. She can be reached at edwinarogers@centerforprisonreform.org.
US House of Representatives
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 |
H.R. 2656 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 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.
Representative Raul Labrador (R), cosponsor of Smarter Sentencing Act
Had a meeting with Vanessa Chen on Thursday 8/7/2014
Representative Jason Chaffetz (R), cosponsor of Public Safety Enhancement Act HR 2656
(202) 225-7751 – Edwina met with Congressman Chaffetz on 9/16/2014
Representative Darrell Issa – Edwina met with Congressman Issa’s staffmember Ellen Dargie on 9/15/2014
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 took 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.
The Sentencing Commission’s Final Priorities List is attached.
Summary: The public support and outcry on the comments helped a lot with regard to the amendments earlier this summer concerning drugs. Congress has until November 1 to disapprove of the US Sentencing Commission’s actions because they made the amendments retroactive – there could be attacks from the new Congress.
The commission gave testimony before the House and the Senate, and presented a letter to Congress regarding the mandatory minimum sentences. The commission thinks that the Smarter Sentencing Act should pass, be retroactive, and have a larger safety valve.
There is currently not enough support within the commission to move away completely from mandatory minimum sentences. Guidelines are now advisory, and they can vary widely by the judge.
The Commission would like to see congress address the conspiracy matter. And the Commission would like to see more work done on the risk assessment legislation.
The sentencing format says that family circumstances are not to be taken into account but the advisory guidelines allow for family circumstances to be considered.
There is a report to Congress due the end of August 2015, on any cost-savings from the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. The commission will only report on beds. The Commission will not have a big amendment for a while like it just had on drugs. The new focus at the Commission is economic crime. Commission held a symposium last fall on economic crimes.
They will be coming up with a new proposal and request comment. The staff has spent a lot of time researching these matters in 2014. The proposed amendments should be available in January.
The commission has an ongoing study on recidivism; this is a federal data story. They will report in 2015 via a series of publications.
The research will include bail, sentencing, release, and reentry. They will look at risk assessments along time. This will be consistent with the SRA. They will be looking at what other countries are doing but will not conduct original research with other countries’ data.
The Commission will look at definition issues like “crimes of violence” and “aggravated felony”.
The Commission will consider amendments or recommendations to Congress to make sentencing more uniform. The Commission just put out for comments amendments concerning Indian tribes, and whether tribal convictions should be counted by the federal system.
The Commission does not plan to act on the child pornography issue in 2015. The commission will look at mitigating roles and violations of probation, and will expect recommendations this year.