Trump Says He Wants to Reform Prisons. His Attorney General Sessions Has Other Ideas.

[riversedge]

President Trump Says He Wants to Reform Prisons. His Attorney General Has Other Ideas.


https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/25/trump-sessions-prison-reform-criminal-justice-halfway-houses-investigation-221908



Jeff Sessions is overseeing a drastic cutback in the number of prisoners sent to halfway houses and home confinement.

By JUSTIN GEORGE

October 25, 2018



In federal penitentiaries across the nation, prisoners eagerly awaiting a transfer to halfway houses say they are being told that they will have to wait weeks or months longer than they had anticipated because there is a shortage of beds at the transitional group homes.

But that’s not true. According to inmates, halfway house staff and industry officials, scores of beds lie empty, with some estimates of at least 1,000 vacant spaces. They remain unused due to a series of decisions that have sharply reduced the number of prisoners sent to halfway houses. And home confinement, a federal arrangement similar to house arrest that allows prisoners to complete their sentences with minimal supervision, is being even more drastically curtailed.

The Bureau of Prisons says it is curbing overspending of past years and streamlining operations, but that doesn’t make sense. Putting inmates in halfway houses or on home confinement is much cheaper than imprisonment. The federal government spent almost $36,300 a year to imprison an inmate, $4,000 more compared with the cost to place a person in a halfway house in 2017, according to the Federal Register. It costs $4,392 a year to monitor someone on home confinement, according to a 2016 report by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Abandoning transitional supervision aligns with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ disputed opinion that reduced prison populations during the Obama administration are to blame for a small uptick in violent crime. As a senator from Alabama, Sessions led the charge two years ago against a bill to ease sentences, and as attorney general he has instructed prosecutors to be more aggressive in charging defendants.

But his policies are undermining his own boss’ stated preference for early release and rehabilitation programs. President Donald Trump has endorsed the First Step Act, which would let prisoners earn significant time to finish their sentences in halfway houses or home confinement if they complete certain rehabilitation programs. The bill is awaiting a Senate vote. Trump has said he would “overrule” Sessions if the attorney general tried to stymie efforts to reform the criminal justice system.

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But the Department of Justice has lobbied against the bill, saying it would give prisoners “nearly unlimited opportunities” to move into halfway houses “at the expense of law-abiding citizens.” And now there is evidence the Bureau of Prisons, under Sessions’ direction, is actively discouraging the use of transitional supervision even under existing rules.



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Under the Obama administration, the number of federal prisoners in halfway houses and other transitional programs boomed. The federal government required the privately-run residences to provide mental health and substance abuse treatment, and the Department of Justice also increased access to ankle monitors so more prisoners could finish sentences in their own homes.

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[silverweb]

1. Step 1:

Find out how much Sessions has invested in for-profit prisons.

[CatMor]

2. Trump and Kushner want prison reform ...

before the trump family has to go to prison.

[BillyBobBrilliant]

3. They need to provide some

Executive suites, and allow take-out from McDonalds...