Both the House and Senate have bills proposed for prison reform. Vice recently released a documentary called “Fixing the System” that talk about the fact that the United States has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s inmates. Sentences have grown and grown taking people away from their families for years at a time, while all studies on the subject show that lengthier sentences have an inverse effect on recidivism.
The pending legislation recognizes that non-violent offenders should spend significantly less time in prison, so long as they meet the criteria of following there plan and demonstrating the ability to function within the bounds of the law.
HR2944 is currently in front of Congress and recognizes that the enormous amount of money being spent on incarceration would be much better used for local law enforcement and education programs, while having non-violent, compliant inmates released into probation where they can be adding to the economy instead of being a burden to the economy.
The current Senate bill calls for some similar programs to the House Bill, but it would not actually accomplish any results for many years.
Please reach out to your local Representative and urge them to get HR2944 passed.
