Over the weekend of March 12-15, more than 400 young adults gathered in Washington D.C. for the Friends Committee on National Legislation Spring Lobby Weekend in order to lobby Congress on the issue of Mass Incarceration.
During the first three days of the trip, students attended informative lectures on the issue of prison reform, briefings on the legislation being presented, and workshops on lobbying Congress both directly and from home.
The final day was spent on Capitol Hill attending meetings with congressmen and staffers, urging them to co-sign either H.R. 3713 Sentencing Reform Act and H.R. 759 The Recidivism Risk Reduction Act, or S. 2123 The Sentencing Reforms and Corrections Act.
These bills look to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offences. The purpose of this legislation would be to reduce the recidivism rate by helping people to overcome addictions rather than locking them away for years at a time, separating them from their families and supportive communities. According to the Urban Institute the total cost of the federal imprisonment system takes up nearly 25% of the entire Department of Justice budget. Yet, the Pew Charitable Trusts reports, prison alternatives such as rehabilitation are proven to be more effective in treating addicts. In a statement before the U.S. House of Representatives, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Charles Samuels Jr. claimed unnecessary mandatory minimums have become fiscally irresponsible and contribute to the high levels of overcrowding in prisons.
The cost of keeping one inmate in prison for one year averages $30,000. That amount of money could fund rehabilitation centers, community outreach, and re-entry programs. These alternatives to incarceration would reduce the recidivism rate (thus reducing the amount of money directed toward these systems) and make for healthier and more productive citizens. Imprisonment does not stop drug addiction from occurring and spreading, this is exemplified by the recent heroin epidemic plaguing our nation. However it is not the leaders of organized drug crime that end up incarcerated, rather it is the street-level sellers and local users that take the brunt of the punishment. These individuals end up behind bars for upwards of fifteen years (totaling $450,000 spent on federal imprisonment per person). The passage of this bill would give power pack to judges by allowing them to exercise discretion in low-level cases and look at drug offenders individually and holistically.
While in D.C., Republican representative Tom Reed listened to the stories and concerns of Houghton students on this issue. Criminal justice reform is on the minds of many congressmen and women, and it is up to the people to call on their representatives to act. The Sentencing Reforms and Corrections Act works towards a bipartisan solution that saving money and lives. This bill takes key steps towards giving judging authority back to judges, reducing mandatory minimum sentences, and reducing the high populations of federal prisons.