President Trump in December 2019 signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020 which includes an interesting law named “Ban the Box.” Also, Ban the Box is called the Fair Chance Act. The FCA will take effect two years after the date of enactment. This bill will give ex-offenders a better chance to find work in the U.S. federal government. The Ban the Box prohibits the asking about the criminal history of job applicants early on in the hiring process. This is essential because one’s past does not define them as the person they are today.

Ban the Box does not allow employers to ask about criminal history. This promotes employers to remove the question from application forms. Former convicts will be able to have a job after serving their time. However, employers will ask about criminal history during a face-to-face interview. Ban the Box improves the lives of people with criminal records. Those who hold a criminal record are often denied the same opportunities and turned away from employment. After serving their time in prison, citizens who search and gain employment are more than 1/3 less likely than their counterparts to return to crime. They are capable of forming lives and straying away from other crimes. 

Everyone is nervous when applying for a job, having a criminal history or not, no one knows the outcome. Employers could become biased and judge individuals on their characteristics. The fact of the matter is, women are as good as men, those who have disabilities should not hold employers back from hiring them, and most importantly, race has no impact on a person’s ability to perform a job. 

Ban the Box has not passed on the federal level, this specific law is being passed by states and cities. There are 13 states that (and the District of Columbia) have ban-the-box laws. The states include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. What would happen if more states pass this law? Would the federal government decide to pass Ban the Box as a bill? 

Why do we need prison reform? 

Let’s rewind and bring back some evidence from my very first blog: “Prison Reform is: an effort to improve the conditions of what inmates go through, provide different aspects of rehabilitation, and it’s able to benefit the criminal justice system. When speaking on terms of the criminal justice system, most of the  public witnesses that justice is never on the side of those who are behind bars.” I would like to discuss in today’s blog about what happens when prisoners do not receive the aid and assistance they need. Prison riots are rarely talked about until one occurs. Before researching prison reform and the significance, I never realized that prison riots are the outcomes of the lack of reform prisoners are searching for, pleading for through these acts (in most cases). Prison riots are meant to force change within prison walls. 

Prison riots can occur for various reasons which include: 

• Failure to control contraband
• Gang rivals
• Effects of overcrowding
• Lack of programs, necessities, etc.

Now taking a dive into history, let’s discuss the 1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot. It was a disaster that had been predicted to happen years before it had occurred. The inmates of the Penitentiary of New Mexico had suffered years of neglect. The issues of having lack of space, inadequate programs, and understaffing. Officials turned their attention to the ugly problems when it was too late, the institution had erupted in violence and destruction. It resulted in the deaths of 33 inmates and surprisingly no correctional officers died. However, many officers had been brutally beaten and/or sodomized.  Dwight Duran, who was an inmate, had filed a lawsuit in 1977 that claimed the penitentiary had violated prisoners’ constitutional right, specifically the 8th Amendment- to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

Throughout the years, even in today’s society, we still see prisoners being treated horribly. When will America learn? How many of these riots have to occur for change to happen? If the needs of inmates are not met, or if policies are not put in place, these sorts of riots will continue to take place. The New Mexico riot is just one example of many others. This is why prison reform is needed, so it can prevent future riots from occurring. More programs, listening to prisoners when they have a problem, having compassion, and better policies have to be set in place. If not, America is looking into a future of chaos and disruption of law and order. 

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.