The criminal justice reform bill, oops, I mean “prison reform,” was crafted precisely with the intent of reducing the federal prison population, even though it has already declined from the 1990s levels. Now that the public has gotten wind of the odious nature of this bill and are appalled by the philosophy propelling it, suddenly the leading voices for it are claiming that nobody gets early release, including sex offenders. The text of the bill and the opinion of the Department of Justice prove otherwise.

First, when supporters say nobody is released early from prison under this bill (aside from the drug traffickers who get sentencing reduction on the front end), they are saying that home confinement and halfway houses are not early release. Before we get into the fact that this bill does offer complete early release, let’s not forget the consequences of mass home confinement of convicted criminals. While the system already has a process for good time credits and home confinement, this bill would offer such an arrangement for tens of thousands of prisoners for as much as one-third of their sentences. As I’ve noted before, the security apparatus for home confinement is already a joke, and nobody has explained how law enforcement would have the resources to deal with this in such large numbers. The bill doesn’t appropriate enough funding to deal with this, because proponents want to preserve the talking point of saving money, even though the Bureau of Prisons has confirmed that home confinement costs almost three times more per diem than a federal prison.

But it’s worse than that. This bill allows these convicts to leave home confinement for numerous activities, including ridiculously vague “job-seeking activities.” Indeed, these people, many of whom are irremediable gangbangers, will continue their trade of drug trafficking.

It gets worse still. Turn to page 12 of the bill and you will see that the Senate bill added a clever trick over the original version.

Notice how the Senate bill adds a second option for the outcome of time credits: “supervised release.” That is straight-up early parole, not even in a less secure home confinement.

Now, let’s turn back to those eligible for such credits, which are earned simply by doing what they do now and Orwellianly defined “productive activities.” A number of federal sex offense convictions are not included in the exceptions from early release credits. Here are at least 4 of them:

18 U.S.C. 2250 – failure to register as a sex offender

8 U.S.C. 1328 – importing aliens for prostitution

18 U.S.C. 116 – female genital mutilation assault with intent to commit rape, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact, and other offenses. This offense is listed among the exclusion list, but only “if the offender has a previous conviction, for which the offender served a term of imprisonment of more than 1 year.”

Remember, anything not on the list of exclusions is eligible for early release, including many of those currently convicted of drug trafficking who will also receive front-end sentencing reductions.

Proponents of Soros’ jailbreak maintain that these people will never be designated as “lower-level” threats in the risk assessment, and therefore, will not be eligible for early release.

This is simply not true. The Bureau of Prisons sent data to Sen. John Kennedy’s office showing that 72 percent of sex offenders are currently classified as “low security.” An email from a top DOJ official given to CR by Sen. Kennedy’s office explains that “of the 15,526 inmates currently serving a sentence for a sex offense in federal prison (approximately 10% of all current federal inmates), 11,283 (approximately 72%) are currently classified as low security inmates. 3,132 (approximately 20%) are classified as medium security inmates. 1,106 (approximately 7%) are classified as high security inmates.”

One can only imagine how many more will be designated as low-risk once liberals reclaim control of the DOJ and have a statutory weapon with which to release as many prisoners as possible.

The lie of this bill gets even worse than that. It turns out that the problem is not only the liberal classification of “low-risk,” but that even prisoners who might be designated as high- or medium-risk will be eligible for early-release credits, which include either home confinement or parole. A careful reading of the bill shows that bill sponsors lied when they repeatedly said hat “only prisoners classified as minimum or low risk may redeem these time credits to reduce their sentence.” This was a point made quite clear in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s official fact-sheet of the bill.

Now, turn to page 41-42 of the bill, and you will see, again, a dual track for eligibility, just like we saw with home confinement or supervised release. Either they are designated as low-risk, or the prison warden can sign off on release, which means even if they are designated as higher-risk.

This is important considering that on page 39, the bill explicitly allows high-risk individuals to participate in this early-release program. If you put these two provisions together, it’s clear they will get early release, and it’s all subject to administrative fiat.

The liars who are promoting this bill, once they are caught, tend to demur by suggesting that a good warden will never sign off on such a thing. But the joke is that these same proponents are the very pressure groups that will give the BOP hell down the road and agitate on behalf of every single prisoner for release.

Even proponents of the bill admit on their website that this is not just about low-level criminals.

Availability of prerelease custody by requiring the BOP to transfer low and minimum risk prisoners to prerelease custody—either a half-way house or home confinement. Because the bill provides that BOP shall do this, BOP will in effect be required to improve contracting with residential re-entry centers, and improve current policies. Even for those who are not designated as low or minimum risk, the FIRST STEP Act provides a pathway to petition for prerelease custody.

These clever provisions in the bill all stem from one point. Most people in federal prison are really bad, and in order to get them released, proponents need to lie about their bill because they know the public doesn’t support their insidious goals. The question is how many other talking points have been fabricated in order to grease the skids of this runaway jailbreak? (For more from the author of “Yes, the ‘Prison Reform’ Bill Lets out High-Risk Inmates and Sex Offenders” please click HERE)

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By Conservative Tribune. You’ve seen the “Hillary for Prison” signs — but it looks like even if the presidential election loser ever ended up behind bars, she should could just call her cell “Democrat Campaign Headquarters” and run again.

Alright, the chances of the former secretary of state either going to jail or making another White House run are both pretty slim at this point. However, a twisted political campaign in Minnesota is paving the way for even hardened criminals to run for office — and shockingly, a number of liberals are completely fine with that prospect.

That leftist-leaning state is where one convicted murderer is trying to be elected to U.S. Senate after he found a loophole in the law that allowed him to run.

Leonard Richards, 75, is serving a life sentence for killing two people. Parole is out of the question, but he now wants voters to send him to Washington. . .

“He is now seeking the nomination of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, which will hold its primary Aug. 14,” the outlet continued. “Richards is looking to upset U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has held the seat since 2007.” (Read more from “Convicted Killer Running as Democrat for Vacant Senate Seat” HERE)

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Convicted Murderer Serving Life in Prison Running for Senate Seat

By NY Post. A prison inmate serving a life term for two murders is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota. And it’s legal.

Minnesota law bars inmates from running for state-level offices, but they can run for federal office. Leonard Richards is keenly aware of the loophole, and he’s unsuccessfully sought federal office several times despite serving a prison sentence that offers no parole, the Star Tribune reported.

Richards, 75, was convicted of killing his half-sister, May Wilson, in 1982, and of fatally shooting his lawyer, Robert Stratton, in 1987. Stratton’s sister said the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office told her it couldn’t keep Richards off the ballot.

Bert Black, a legal adviser for the office, said in an email that despite Richards’ “unspeakable acts,” courts have ruled that the agency cannot prohibit a felon — even a prisoner — from filing an affidavit of candidacy. (Read more from “Convicted Murderer Serving Life in Prison Running for Senate Seat” HERE)

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O.J. Simpson was granted parole Thursday after more than eight years in prison for a Las Vegas hotel heist, successfully making his case in a nationally televised hearing that reflected America’s enduring fascination with the former football star.

With the ruling, the 70-year-old Simpson, who was convicted in 2008 of an armed robbery involving two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room, could be out of prison as early as Oct. 1 after serving the minimum nine years of a 33-year sentence.

When the final vote to grant parole was read after parole commissioners deliberated just over 30 minutes, Simpson lowered his head and then raised it up with a big smile . . .

All four parole commissioners cited his lack of a prior conviction, the low risk he might commit another crime, his community support and his release plans, which include moving to Florida. (Read more from “O.J. Simpson Granted Parole” HERE)

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