The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan prison reform bill Tuesday amid objections from some Democrats and liberal groups that it doesn’t go far enough. Lawmakers approved the First Step Act by a 360-59 vote to incentivize inmates to complete prison programs that reduce their likelihood to reoffend after release, The Hill reports. The legislation, authored by Reps. Doug Collins (R-GA) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), provides $50 million to the Bureau of Prisons annually for the next five years for prison programs including education, drug treatment and job skills training. Under the bill, which is supported by the White House but faces an uncertain future in the Senate, prisoners would be allowed to earn time credits for completing programs and then use those credits to serve the remaining days of their sentences in a halfway house or home confinement.
The bill requires inmates to be housed within 500 miles of their families when possible and prohibits the shackling of female inmates while they are pregnant, giving birth or in postpartum recovery. Some Democrats oppose the bill because it fails to reduce mandatory minimum prison sentences. “It is unfortunate that after waiting nearly 1 1/2 years to take up the issue of criminal justice reform, the majority was unwilling to subject [the bill] to a single legislative hearing, or even bother to obtain a [Congressional Budget Office] score so we could understand its impact,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Said Collins: “Those who chose to vote ‘no’ today, my question is this: Is it OK to make progress on many other things, but on this one say no?” “Say no to a family who has a family member in prison who could get treatment and get help … is it OK to say no to those folks?”