From the Sentencing Project (http://www.sentencingproject.org):
As you know, sentencing reform legislation has gained significant ground in Congress over the past year. Both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees have passed bills that would scale back the use of mandatory sentencing, provide retroactive relief to certain individuals in prison sentenced under excessively harsh provisions, and expand rehabilitative programming in federal prisons.
With the legislative calendar winding down for the year, time is of the essence in moving these bills for a full vote in Congress. House Speaker Paul Ryan has indicated that he may bring a combined package of sentencing reform provisions to the House floor. In order to make this happen, it’s critical that members of Congress from both parties hear from their constituents that they support these reforms.
Please contact your Representative in Congress today (find contact information at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/) and ask him/her to call for a vote on bipartisan sentencing reform legislation.
Now is the time that we can all make a difference. Thanks in advance for your support.
barbara vanhorn
Sentencing reform is way overdue! Prison terms must reflect the seriousness of a crime, not an unjust sentence for political or racist reasons. We must join hands across the aisle to change our sentencing practices and improve our prison services.
Cynthia Crowner
Mandatory sentencing seemed like a good idea at the time and a popular one, but we have seen a huge number of people incarcerated over that past two decades, many of whom need drug rehabilitation or mental health support which they not getting in our prisons (I know, I was a seminary intern in a CA state medical “correctional” facility when these mandatory sentences were overcrowding that facility). 3000 men, 60% in for non violent drug related offenses and not one single NA meeting in the whole joint much less treatment. When I tried to find one inmate’s therapist, it took me two weeks and he told me he was part time and had a caseload of over 300 men. How could he have been effective?) We need more treatment for those who get in trouble with the law, especially those who have not committed violence against other persons. We need reform in sentencing now. Less funds for prisons means more funds for treatment for drug and mental illness.