Dangerous Jobs, Federal Prison Oversight & More
"Incarcerated Americans should not fear death when they enter our Federal prison system, and correctional officers should not fear for their safety in their workplace."
The U.S. House passed the Federal Prison Oversight Act 392-2 this week. The bill introduced by Reps. Lucy McBath (D–Ga.) and Kelly Armstrong (R–N.D.) would require the Department of Justice's inspector general to conduct detailed inspections Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities and create an independent Justice Department ombudsman to investigate complaints from inmates and staff. The vote comes amid ongoing reports of chronic understaffing, crumbling facilities, and scandal in the nation's federal prisons. Advocates are now turning their attention to a companion bill in the Senate with hope that upper chamber passage will be possible prior to August.
“At the end of the day, the idea is that if I get my finger lopped off, if I am an incarcerated person working as a firefighter, I am entitled to less relief than if I am a firefighter that’s not incarcerated.”
It’s almost impossible to know how many incarcerated workers are hurt or killed each year in low-wage jobs that are nonetheless sought both during and following a period of incarceration due to lack of other opportunities. Whether in the food system or wildland fire-fighting, a two-year AP investigation is shining a light on the individual stories of incarcerated people who have lost life and limb to serve communities who rarely know of the extent of their sacrifices. The stories highlight the often nuanced solution to the dignity of work behind bars: not that every prison job should be eliminated, but that the performance of it should entitle an incarcerated person to reasonable benefits and protections.
"They're literally walking in the shoes of a reentering citizen... When they encounter people in real life who are reentering society, they might have a different viewpoint."
An interactive walk-through simulation hosted by Pennsylvania Eastern District U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero and the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute provided local government officials and community leaders with a simulation of what it is like to be a returning citizen this month. The exhibit allows participants to conceptualize what it might be like to balance the demands of daily life -- bills, responsibilities, and barriers to reentry -- with parole check-ins, job searching, and navigating a world that may have changed significantly since a person was originally sentenced.
“If something’s ineffective and it hurts people then it shouldn’t be a practice, and the state has so many other ways of holding drivers accountable.”
Drivers will no longer be at risk of losing a vehicle to towing due to unpaid parking tickets in Minnesota. The state's annual omnibus transportation bill included a provision that ends debt-based towing, a practice that is both ineffective at debt collection for the state and disruptive for low-income families who rely on a vehicle for transportation to and from work, school and other daily functions.
"Rather than addressing the causes of crime or improving the ability to close cases, this bill simply disincentivizes rehabilitation in Tennessee prisons."
A Tennessee bill threatening Good Time Credits in the state is the latest example of a state legislature looking to return to tough on crime sentencing policies that threaten rehabilitation and longterm recidivism rates. Though it's been sold to lawmakers and Tennesseans as a tough-on-crime measure that will make the state safer, SB 2044 will result in bloated public spending, wasted law enforcement resources, and higher recidivism rates warns First Step Recipient, FAMM Senior Policy Advisor and Tennesseean Matthew Charles.