JUSTICE ACTION NETWORK STATEMENT ON DOJ’S LANDMARK DECISION ON FIRST STEP ACT'S EARNED TIME CREDITS
AG GARLAND ANNOUNCES EARNED TIME CREDITS DECISION IN LINE WITH INTENT OF TRUMP-ERA FIRST STEP ACT; THOUSANDS OF LOW-RISK INCARCERATED PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED IN RECIDIVISM-REDUCTION PROGRAMMING SET FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Major Victory for Senate Judiciary Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley, Advocates from Right to Left
***Holly Harris Available for Interviews***
(Washington, DC) – Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a crucial decision finally settling the issue of earned time credits – a key plank of the First Step Act, landmark bipartisan prison and sentencing reform legislation signed into law by President Trump in 2018. The decision, consistent with congressional intent, answers the bipartisan call for common-sense calculation of earned time credits for participation in recidivism-reduction programming, a calculation that will now be retroactive to the date of enactment of First Step Act, making thousands of low-risk individuals who participated in the programming eligible for release. Please credit the following statement to Holly Harris, President and Executive Director of Justice Action Network, the country’s largest criminal justice reform advocacy organization, and a convener of the bipartisan coalition of advocates and lawmakers who passed First Step and lobbied DOJ to clarify interpretation of the legislation.
“Today’s announcement is relief for thousands of people who have done the hard work to turn their lives around, and rejoin their families and communities as productive, law-abiding citizens. But it is also another signal that the decades of obstructionism at DOJ, which has spanned multiple Republican and Democratic administrations, is coming to an end.
“With passage of the First Step Act, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle worked together to address shockingly unfair sentences and prioritize rehabilitation and public safety. Yet even after a landslide bipartisan vote in Congress, the Bureau of Prisons continued to obstruct implementation of the legislation, unreasonably restricting earned time credits for recidivism-reduction programming that would lead to stronger people and safer communities.
“Now, thanks to the relentless advocacy of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, the godfathers of the bipartisan criminal justice reform movement, advocates across the political spectrum, and impacted people and their families who refused to give up, transformational change is dawning on the Department of Justice. Justice Action Network has long advocated for this change, including filing comments with the Bureau of Prisons alongside Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) and commends AG Garland. AG Garland's leadership on the earned time credits issue will change lives, reunite and strengthen families, and make our communities safer. His act here is the stuff legacies are made of, and history will smile on him for it.”