On December 21, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law the First Step Act. The First Step Act (FSA) efforts are to improve criminal justice outcomes, how long prisoners will serve their sentence, as well as to reduce the size of the federal prison population. This act gives inmates the ability to go into society rehabilitated and to be able to live in society. There is an idea that stems from this act, that it will help against recidivism. This is a step towards prison reform because this newly passed law is creating mechanisms to maintain public safety. The law is using several steps to ease mandatory minimum sentences under federal law. 

This can be seen as a win because it sparks the conversation on mass incarceration and the issues prisoners face within prison walls. The First Step Act surprisingly passed, many Republicans did not favor this new law, but many Democrats seemed to have favored this. This seems like a small step, but let’s look at what the FSA actually does. The FSA entails most of these specific parts:

1. It is able to give judges greater latitude in imposing mandatory minimum sentences.
2. It allows inmates to earn increased good conduct time. 
3. Programming to address inmate’s needs. 

These three are only parts included in this law and each one stands out in its own way. The third point proves that there is a need for programs in prisons. Another provision that was mentioned touches on the subject I wrote in my last blog, it includes a requirement for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to provide tampons and sanitary napkins that meet the needs for prisoners. This is significant in terms of addressing women inmate’s needs. Another positive aspect is that it’s for free and comes in a quantity that is useful for women. The FSA seems to highlight issues amongst women who are incarcerated.

Congress had taken efforts to pass criminal justice reform legislation, such as creating the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (SRCA). SCRA was introduced in 2015 by the following senators: Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois). However, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (SCRA) had failed to pass in 2016. Why did this reform fail to pass? Did you know that 46.5 percent of the federal prison population represents federal drug offenses? The reforms in the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 were not insignificant, the reform failed to place too much of an emphasis on drug crimes. This week’s blog discussed a bill that passed and showed significant help in recognizing the issues prisoners face. Then, I mentioned a reform that did not pass. Take a look into the reforms passed and ones that have failed to understand that not all reforms will be beneficial or important.