Ozy: Will This Bourbon-Loving Kentucky Conservative Usher in Prison Reform?
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The black-heeled, red-dressed Kentuckian makes the trek from Union Station to Capitol Hill for her most important sit-down in three years of fighting for criminal justice reform. As director of the Justice Action Network, Holly Harris has helped funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to advocacy groups on both the left and right of this mostly bipartisan issue. Now, the First Step Act — which could ease punishment for well-behaved prisoners, exempt some drug offenders from mandatory minimum sentencing laws and prohibit the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women — is closer than ever to becoming a reality. Harris is quickening her pace.
While there are many working to help pass criminal justice reform, Harris and the Justice Action Network are seen as key to the First Step Act’s potential passage. “I don’t know if we would be where we are today without them,” says Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican and major proponent of the bill. “For a long time, Democrats really were scared to be seen as soft on crime and weak on this issue,” says Jessica Jackson Sloan, a left-leaning human-rights attorney and co-founder of reform initiative #cut50. But she says the voices of Republicans like Harris have been a “turning point,” making the issue bipartisan rather than politically toxic.