Will Recommendations By Prison Task Force Be Implemented?

By Nisa Islam Muhammad -Staff Writer- | Last updated: Feb 4, 2016 - 4:45:30 PM

Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections. Photo: colsontaskforce.org

WASHINGTON - The Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections sent to Congress and President Obama progressive recommendations to reform the federal justice system, enhance public safety, and save the government billions of dollars.

“We have laid out a detailed roadmap of ambitious, consensus-based recommendations that place public safety first while reserving prison for those who truly need it,” said task force chair, former Congressman J.C. Watts, Jr. (R-Ok.) at a press conference announcing the report. The recommendations were sent Jan. 26.

J.C. Watts, chairman of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections

“If taken together, these reforms are projected to reduce the federal prison population by 60,000 people in the coming years and save more than $5 billion,” said Mr. Watts.

“Transforming Prisons, Re-storing Lives”, was the result of a Congressionally mandated panel’s findings from their year-long investigation into the nation’s overcrowded and costly federal prisons.

“The BOP (Bureau of Prisons) has been operating at crisis levels for decades,” said Alan B. Mollohan, vice chair and former Congressman (D-WV). “As a result, its policies and practices have not kept up with best practice in the field, presenting a missed opportunity to rehabilitate those who are confined in federal prisons and thus promote public safety.”

Congress established the panel in 2014 in response to concerns about the size and cost of the BOP, which houses 197,000 at a cost of almost $7.5 billion.

Named for Chuck Colson, who served time for his role in the Watergate scandal, after his release, he advocated for prison reform and founded the world’s largest prison ministry.

The Task Force recommends Congress repeal the mandatory minimum penalties for drug offenses, except for drug kingpins as defined in the “continuing criminal enterprise” statute. This reform should be applied prospectively for all eligible drug offenses at sentencing. In addition, retroactive application of this policy should be phased in starting 24 months after the changes are made prospectively.

The recommendations are designed for people like Donald Taylor who graduated from high school in 1984 with clear goals. He wanted to join the Army and make that his lifelong career.

His plan starts good but ended badly when Mr. Taylor was hit by a car near Fort Rucker, Ala., and honorably discharged in 1990. Injuries and a dream deferred followed him home where he met the wrong crowd. By 1994 he was convicted of selling powder cocaine, a non-violent crime.

Mr. Taylor was sent to federal prison on a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years since he had a previous state-level conviction for selling less than a gram of powder cocaine.

Tens of thousands of Mr. Taylors are all over the country with similar stories of drug and weapons related charges that led to the mass incarceration starting in the 1980s.

The Task Force, which also included Laurie O. Robinson, former Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, and Cynthia W. Roseberry, Project Manager, Clemency Project 2014 heard from over 100 experts and stakeholders through public testimony, discussions, and conversations with federal prisoners.

It recommends that the justice department moves away from its current “one size fits all” approach to punishment which includes mandatory minimums.

Instead, they advise that sentencing decisions and correctional responses be based on the individual case–an approach grounded in research evidence as the most effective means of reducing recidivism.

One of the boldest recommendations according to several experts was that prison sanctions be used sparingly and long terms of incarceration be reserved for only the most serious federal crimes. They advise incentivizing participation in programs that are proven to lower recidivism and increase the odds of success for individuals reentering society.

“These reforms go further than the current legislation in Congress. Nothing that’s been advanced so far goes far enough but in the political environment that we’re in now for these recommendations to come out at this time with unanimous consensus and bipartisan I think says a lot,” Nkechi Taifa, Esq., Open Society Foundations, Senior Policy Analyst told The Final Call.

While these recommendations go far, for some they don’t go far enough. D.C. activists feel the report failed to acknowledge that D.C. inmates are uniquely impacted by the BOP which regulates D.C.‘s prison system.

“The challenges faced by D.C. inmates, who make up approximately 5,000 inmates of the Bureau of Prisons population, are left out of this report,” said Tara Libert, Executive Director of Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop, a D.C.-based organization providing reentry services.

“Our residents are subject to extreme hardships having the federal system serve as our city’s prison system and there needs to be more oversight and connection to city leaders, advocates and reentry service providers.”

In a letter to the task force in July of last year, Louis Sawyer, D.C. Reentry Task Force chair proposed the appointment of a Director of D.C. Corrections position at the BOP to act as a liaison between the BOP and the D.C. community.

“This single point of contact would create accountability and reduce the ‘hot potato’ situation D.C. faces now, with different BOP officials redirecting responsibility without ever solving problems,” he told The Final Call. None of his recommendations were included in the report.

The issue of private prisons was also not mentioned.

“The privatization of prisons is definitely a factor in driving the mass incarceration. People have vested interests in keeping sentences long, and prison beds filled. Until that issue is addressed you’re going to continue to have long sentences to ensure that the money continues to flow. No it wasn’t mentioned but it would be nice to see the background of the commission, the boards they sit on,” said Attorney Taifa.

The Final Call