From several years of touring prisons, I鈥檝e learned they all have a distinctive and oddly similar smell: sweat, human misery, and grime 鈥� sometimes overlain, but never hidden, by the acrid odors of chlorine and other cleaning products.
The sounds give you a sense of the different parts of the institution. Dorm-style general population units are a constant murmur of activity, with TV programs blending into the sound of people talking, playing cards, microwaving overpriced cups of noodles鈥攁nything to pass the idle hours, days, months, and years in custody that lay before them.
I wish he had reached behind a solid steel door to shake the hand of someone in solitary confinement.
Meanwhile, solitary confinement units are filled with the yells of those seeking help, the screams of those battling hallucinations, and the echoing metallic thuds of people banging their hands 鈥� or sometimes their heads 鈥� against the metal doors of their cells.
But when President Obama visited the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution this week, he did not smell or hear these things.
Everything was clean, quiet, and empty. The president toured a cellblock that had been cleared out 鈥� and the floor polished to a spotlessly high sheen 鈥� in preparation for his visit. He stepped into an empty cell to see three bunks, neatly folded prisoner uniforms, and a tidy stack of toilet paper rolls.
鈥淭hree full-grown men in a 9-by-10 cell,鈥� he .
I wish he had seen the parts of the prison that were not cleaned and emptied. I wish he had reached behind a solid steel door to shake the hand of someone in solitary confinement. Seeing these scenes firsthand would have deepened his experience.
Circumscribed as it was, his visit is still important. It was the first time a sitting president has ever visited a federal prison. And when six carefully selected prisoners were admitted into his protective bubble, he saw the humanity beneath their prison garb. 鈥淭hese are young people who made mistakes that aren't that different from the mistakes I made, and the mistakes that a lot of you guys made,鈥� he . 鈥淭hat's what strikes me 鈥� there but for the grace of God.鈥�
Implicit in that statement is the idea that under different circumstances, these young people could have become reporters like the president鈥檚 audience or leaders like the president himself. But instead, the government has determined that they will count down their time in a place that the president鈥檚 staff has deemed too dirty, too chaotic for him to see for himself.
So, even with this limited glimpse, President Obama was able to see the enormous waste of human potential that mass incarceration creates. He came away knowing that the 2.3 million people who are in prison and jail every day could be doing something better for themselves and for society.
And that insight is enormously important. We do not have to settle for a criminal justice system that is unproductive, wasteful, and dominated by racial disparities. Bad policies are made, and bad policies can be unmade 鈥� it just requires that those in power take a look, as President Obama did, and commit themselves to building something better.
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Prisoners' Rights
Criminal Law Reform
老澳门开奖结果 Sues Bureau of Prisons for Keeping People in Prison Longer Than the Law Allows老澳门开奖结果 Sues Bureau of Prisons for Keeping People in Prison Longer Than the Law Allows
WASHINGTON 鈥� A federal lawsuit brought today by the 老澳门开奖结果, 老澳门开奖结果 of D.C., and Jenner & Block LLP challenges the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for unlawfully incarcerating people longer than the law allows under the First Step Act. The lawsuit contends that the BOP鈥檚 failure to implement the First Step Act according to its plain language violates the rights of thousands of people who should be returning to their communities and rebuilding their lives but instead remain incarcerated. Signed into law in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, the bipartisan First Step Act was designed to reduce the population in federal prisons, reform extreme sentencing laws, and provide programming and reentry transition services to people in prison. Central to the First Step Act is a system of earned time credits, which allows people in prison to earn time off their sentences and time out of prison by participating in rehabilitation programs. Through the First Step Act, Congress unambiguously ordered BOP to move people out of prison when they meet certain requirements to use their earned time credits. Instead of faithfully following the mandatory law, BOP adopted a regulation treating the law as optional. As a result, thousands of people, who should already be back in their communities and with their families, remain in prison. 鈥淓very extra unlawful day our clients spend in prison is a serious injustice,鈥� said Emma Andersson, deputy director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淚t is egregious that the Bureau of Prisons is imprisoning people for months longer than the law allows. The government must follow through on its legal obligation to get people out of prison on time and back into their communities, where they belong.鈥� Additional comments below from: Vanessa Crowe, plaintiff: 鈥淭ime is what I owed for my wrongdoing, and I have paid my time. But I should not have to spend more time in prison than the law allows. I often reflect on what I will miss during the months after when I should be out of prison. I will miss work and lose out on wages that would help me get back on my feet. I could be a tax paying citizen instead of a burden on society. But most of all, I will miss more precious time with my family. My family and I are ready to tum the page on this period in our lives 鈥� we are all ready to start a new life, a life with purpose, hope, and healing together. I want to start that life when I am legally entitled to start it-not five months later.鈥� Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at 老澳门开奖结果 of D.C.: 鈥淭here鈥檚 no excuse for the Bureau of Prisons to pretend not to understand Congress鈥檚 clear command that people who have earned the right to early release must be released. This law has been on the books for six years. The Bureau of Prisons has had plenty of time to understand it. Law enforcers should obey the law.鈥� Betsy Henthorne, partner at Jenner & Block: 鈥淚t has been six years since the First Step Act was signed, but despite Congress鈥檚 clear directives, the Bureau of Prisons continues to hold thousands of people in prison longer than the law allows. We should and do expect better鈥攊t鈥檚 past time for the BOP to ensure that those who have earned their release are able to return home to their families and communities according to the law Congress passed.鈥� -
Press ReleaseSep 2024
National Security
Prisoners' Rights
老澳门开奖结果 Statement on Senator鈥檚 Discriminatory Questioning of Civil Rights Leader Maya Berry老澳门开奖结果 Statement on Senator鈥檚 Discriminatory Questioning of Civil Rights Leader Maya Berry
WASHINGTON 鈥� 老澳门开奖结果 Executive Director Anthony D. Romero, released the following statement regarding Sen. John Kennedy鈥檚 questioning of Maya Berry, the executive director of the Arab American Institute: 鈥淭he 老澳门开奖结果 condemns this discriminatory and vitriolic attack on Maya Berry, a renowned civil rights leader, and joins the chorus of voices from across the political spectrum in denouncing these remarks. 鈥淭o use a hearing about the disturbing rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and antisemitic hate crimes to launch personal and discriminatory attacks on an expert witness they鈥檝e invited to testify is both outrageous and inappropriate. This kind of racist rhetoric should be widely condemned. It has no place in Congress, or in politics. 鈥淢aya Berry is a courageous and compassionate leader who has spent her entire career working to strengthen our democracy and protect the rights of Arab American communities, and other vulnerable communities who face discrimination and targeting because of their ethnicity, race, or religion.鈥� -
Ohio Supreme CourtSep 2024
Prisoners' Rights
State v. MorrisState v. Morris
This case in the Ohio Supreme Court concerns the scope of the state constitutional right to counsel. The police in this case interrogated the defendant, Isaiah Morris, without mentioning his already-appointed counsel or asking him to waive his right to counsel. This procedural circumstance risks confusing criminal defendants and undermining their state constitutional rights. The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the 老澳门开奖结果 of Ohio and WilmerHale, filed an amicus brief arguing that merely providing a defendant notice of Miranda rights falls short of the bare minimum requirements for a valid waiver. -
Oregon Supreme CourtSep 2024
Prisoners' Rights
Huskey v. Oregon Department of CorrectionsHuskey v. Oregon Department of Corrections
This case in the Oregon Supreme Court centers on whether Article I, Section 41(3) of the Oregon Constitution, which provides that Oregon prisoners lack legally enforceable rights to prison jobs and training, bars prisoners from collecting damages relating to lost prison jobs and training caused by the alleged breach of a settlement agreement by prison officials. The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the 老澳门开奖结果 of Oregon, filed an amicus brief arguing that that plaintiff Arnold Huskey, an incarcerated individual whose identity was used in Department of Corrections training materials, is entitled to damages notwithstanding Article I, Section 41(3), because plaintiffs in contract disputes never have to show standalone legal rights to the damages they claim. Instead, they need only show that the damages were reasonably foreseeable consequences of the alleged breach of contract.