Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Congressman French Hill (AR-02) made the following statement after supporting the bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, the First Step Act, which the president signed into law today:

“Since I came to Congress in 2015, I have actively worked with groups like Arkansas Baptist College, Restore Hope, Goodwill, Shorter College, the Exodus Project, and many more on ways we can better tackle crime, help lower recidivism rates, assist incarcerated Arkansans successfully shift back to society, while promoting individual opportunity. Through my Community Empowerment Initiative (CEI), I have brought together over 100 community members and have conducted more than 25 site visits throughout central Arkansas and around the country.

“I am pleased that the president signed this bill into law today, marking this a crucial step for criminal justice reform. This issue transcends partisan boundaries, and I believe that all Arkansans and Americans in good standing with the law, regardless of their environment or background, deserve the opportunity to improve their lives. By implementing more opportunities for education and skill development, this bill offers incarcerated Americans and Arkansans aid in living better lives.”

Background              

The First Step Act, S. 756, reduces recidivism and promotes rehabilitation by encouraging inmates to participate in educational and vocational training, and by improving conditions in federal prisons.

Specifically, the bill does the following:

• Providing every inmate with an individualized plan of evidence-based programming geared specifically toward recidivism reduction;
• Allowing low-risk inmates to serve time toward the end of their sentences in either a halfway house in home confinement, easing their transitions back into their families and communities;
• Codifying a prohibition on shackling female prisoner who are pregnant, giving birth, or in postpartum recovery;
• Requiring inmates to be placed in facilities closer to their families to encourage visitation and assist in maintaining familial and community ties.
• Retroactively extending the reductions in sentencing disparity between crack-cocaine and powder-cocaine, as codified in the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act.
• Lowering the mandatory minimum for “three strikes” penalties from life to twenty-five years.
• Expanding the scope of so-called “safety valves,” giving federal judges discretion in imposing mandatory minimums for low-level nonviolent drug offenders.

The policies in this bill build upon state reforms in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and others.