A commutation gratitude story
In December 2006, after I had served 14 years in federal prison, President Bush commuted my 22-year sentence. He took a chance on me, and that second chance changed my life.In 1992, I was charged with...
View ArticleWhat ever happened to mass incarceration reform?
Though it feels like eons ago, the summer of 2016 promised to be one of bipartisan efforts to tackle the issue of mass incarceration. Unfortunately, the summer for criminal justice reform dissolved...
View ArticleGlimmer of hope in bipartisan criminal justice reform effort
Washington D.C. has entered a period of stability. Our nation’s capital, once appreciated for its polite collegiality and fertile grounds for periodic compromise, has been transformed into something...
View ArticleThe remarkable rehabilitation of Matthew Charles makes a case for...
Matthew Charles went home to Nashville in 2016 after 20 years in federal prison. He found a job, rented an apartment, and bought a car. He reconnected with his children and grandchildren and met a new...
View ArticleCongress has a 'second chance' for bipartisan criminal justice reform
The two of us are about as far apart politically as you can get — in fact, we agree on very little. And yet, for the last few years, we have agreed to work together on common-sense criminal justice...
View ArticleKim Kardashian goes to Washington
Kim Kardashian visited the White House on Wednesday to talk about an issue near and dear to her heart. The reality television star and spouse of rapper Kanye West met with President Trump and White...
View ArticleFormer inmates push Senate to move on prison reform bill
A group of 40 former state and federal inmates is pushing Senate leaders to take up the White House-backed prison reform bill that has divided Democrats and liberal groups, as well as GOP senators.In a...
View ArticleHow cutting food stamps undermines prison reform
If only an anonymous member of President Trump’s team would publish an op-ed explaining how cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as proposed in the House-passed Farm Bill of...
View ArticlePresident Trump’s spiritual adviser: Congress must pass First Step Act
When President Donald Trump ran on helping forgotten Americans, perhaps not everyone realized until his recent announcement supporting bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation that this included...
View ArticleThere's nothing 'courageous' about opposing the First Step...
This op-ed is directed at the entire United States Senate and specifically a small group of Republican Senators who somehow believe they are being “courageous” by opposing the historic bipartisan First...
View ArticleWhy the First Step Act shouldn’t be the last
The First Step Act, which passed the Senate Tuesday night and heads back to the House, is being touted as real criminal justice reform. While the bill makes some improvement to the federal system, it...
View ArticleHarris unveils criminal justice plan that would end executions, cash bail
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a 2020 White House hopeful, would end mandatory minimum sentencing, the death penalty and cash bail in an effort to create a criminal justice system focused on fairness...
View ArticleIt's time to acknowledge that long prison terms do not prevent violence
In the Nov. 3 election, people in California, Oklahoma, Kentucky and several U.S. cities continued to grapple with the criminal justice system’s shortcomings, voting to make immediate changes....
View ArticleBuild a bridge, not a wall, between administrations on justice reform
Given his pre-White House record on matters such as the Central Park Five, as well as a campaign launched with false claims that Mexican immigrants were more likely to commit crimes than native-born...
View ArticleGorsuch, Thomas join liberal justices in siding with criminal defendant
The Supreme Court split along unusual lines Thursday to rule in favor of a criminal defendant in a case that saw two of the most conservative justices form a bare majority with the court’s three...
View ArticleFifty failed years later — it's time to end and dismantle the war on drugs
Fifty years ago — on June 17, 1971 — then-President Nixon declared the “War on Drugs,” stating that “drug abuse” was “public enemy number one.” Nixon’s declaration was a pretextual political strategy...
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