Posts Tagged ‘Federal Prison’
Texas Non-Profit Helps Felons Start Their Own Businesses
By Christopher Zoukis The Prison Entrepreneur Program (PEP), a Texas-based non-profit formed in 2004, assists inmates convicted of felonies to prepare for life after prison by developing skills and character, finding post-release employment, and eventually making a success with their own businesses. The group’s current CEO Bryan Kelley is a program graduate. Nearly finished serving…
Read MoreSlicing and Dicing the Prison Commissary Business
By Christopher Zoukis The Prison Policy Initiative, a non-profit advocacy group, recently released a study examining how state prison commissaries operate. One observation made in the report: commissaries often exploit incarcerated persons, by shifting the costs of incarceration from the state to inmates and their families. The central problem, according to the report, isn’t the…
Read MorePrivate Prison Populations Grew Five Times Faster than Prisons Overall
By Christopher Zoukis The Sentencing Project, a non-profit advocacy group, recently released a short study on privately-owned prisons in the U.S. One of the most striking facts documented by the study, Capitalizing on Mass Incarceration: U.S. Growth in Private Prisons, was that in the first sixteen years of this century, the number of inmates held…
Read MoreHouse Easily Clears First Step Prison Reform Act, but Will Senate?
By Christopher Zoukis Four days after the White House prison reform summit (See “White House Summit Pushes for Action on the “First Step” Act” on christopherzoukis.com for more information), and 10 days after clearing the House Judiciary Committee on a 25-5 vote, the “First Step” Act (H.R. 5628) easily passed the House of Representative on…
Read MoreHouse Committee Takes “First Step” on Prison Reform
By Christopher Zoukis The House Judiciary Committee on May 9 approved, by a 25-5 margin, the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act (H.R. 5682), known for short as the “First Step” Act. Sponsored by Reps. Doug Collins (R-GA) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the measure is a pared-down revision of the Prison Reform…
Read MoreTexas Could Shape Trump’s Proposals to Reform Federal Prisons
By Christopher Zoukis Second in size behind Alaska, and trailing just California and New York in population, the state of Texas may turn out to be the biggest of all when it comes to influencing how the Trump administration shapes its proposals and strategy on criminal justice reform. A few years ago, it looked like…
Read MorePrison Reform and Redemption Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By Christopher Zoukis Introduction On July 24, 2017, Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives titled the “Prison Reform and Redemption Act” (PRRA).1 The bill is co-sponsored by nine members of the 115th Congress, four of whom are fellow Republicans. According to the text of the proposed legislation, its purpose is…
Read MoreAs BOP Plans Staff Reductions, Does “Augmentation” Show Efficiency or Understaffing?
By Christopher Zoukis In February 2018, federal union officials from across the nation met with legislators in Washington to lobby against proposed cuts in the fiscal year 2019 federal budget that would prevent the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from filling an estimated 7,100 currently vacant staff positions in federal prisons. Of the 37,237 BOP…
Read MoreDOJ Will Build New Prison in Southeastern Kentucky
By Christopher Zoukis The Department of Justice (DOJ) has now decided to build a new prison in southeastern Kentucky, according to a senior congressman from the state, even though the agency had earlier opposed the project. On March 31, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), a former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, announced Attorney General Jeff…
Read MoreOhio Experiences Continued Problems with Aramark Over Alleged Food Fraud
By Christopher Zoukis The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) overpaid food service giant Aramark $57,193 for food provided to nonexistent prisoners, investigators found. The overpayment was uncovered by the state Office of the Inspector General (OIG). According to a June 15, 2017 report, the OIG began investigating Aramark after learning of a dispute…
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