[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 196 (Monday, December 9, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1563-E1564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   GOOD CONDUCT TIME CREDITS FOR CERTAIN ELDERLY NONVIOLENT OFFENDERS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 3, 2019

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4018, 
the legislation which provides that the amount of time that an elderly 
offender must serve before being eligible for placement in home 
detention is to be reduced by the amount of Good Time Credits earned by 
the prisoner, and for other purposes.
  This legislation would ensure that elderly offenders become eligible 
for the pilot program at a point in time that takes into account any 
good conduct time credits they may have accumulated in the course of 
their time in prison under the Second Chance Act.
  This change is important for at least three reasons:
  (1) the elderly offender pilot program should be consistent with the 
way the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) calculates other transfers, which 
includes credit for good conduct time,
  (2) offenders who otherwise have satisfactory behavior should not 
lose good conduct time solely due to their elderly status, and
  (3) one of the goals of the pilot program is to save taxpayer 
dollars, and older inmates tend to be more costly for BOP to house.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation because it is long overdue 
and provides much needed relief to persons who no longer warrant 
incarceration.
  To promote prisoner reentry and improve community reintegration, I 
co-sponsored and advocated for passage of the Second Chance Act, which 
Congress enacted in April 2008.
  The Second Chance Act expanded existing offender reentry grant 
programs at DOJ and created a wide array of targeted grant-funded pilot 
programs.
  The Second Chance Act reauthorization improved programs by:
  broadening programs to cover reentry courts,
  expanding grant eligibility to nonprofits,
  bolstering support for programs targeting offenders with histories of 
homelessness, substance abuse, or mental illness, and
  makes the existing elder release pilot program permanent and broadens 
eligibility.
  The Second Chance Act also established an elderly offender release 
program for those individuals over the age of 65 who have served the 
greater of ten years or 75 percent of their sentence.
  The Act has been consistently funded by Congress since its enactment.

[[Page E1564]]

  Since its inception, the Second Chance Act has resulted in more than 
800 grant awards in 49 states and the District of Columbia to 
government agencies and nonprofits for reentry programming designed to 
provide services that can help reduce recidivism and increase public 
safety.
  The data shows that this investment in our returning population 
lowers recidivism, saves money and reduces crime.
  Nearly one out of three Second Chance Act grantees is a community or 
faith-based organization and includes funding for federal programs 
through the Bureau of Prisons. The data shows that this investment in 
our returning population lowers recidivism, saves money and reduces 
crime.
  The Second Chance Act has been a success and its reauthorization was 
an essential part of any meaningful criminal justice reform effort. 
Through grants, the Second Chance Act encourages the development of 
evidence-based reentry programming to improve outcomes for those 
returning to families and communities.
  Grantees provide vital resources, including employment training, drug 
treatment, family programming, and so much more.
  Reauthorization had broad bipartisan support in Congress and from 
nearly 700 organizations across the political spectrum.
  The Second Chance Act has played an important role in the impressive 
advances Texas has made over the last decade in criminal justice and 
juvenile justice reform.
  Texas has received over 28 Second Chance Act grant awards to date, 
totaling over $11,932,289.
  One recipient, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, has used it to 
provide family-focused reentry services and comprehensive case 
management to gang-affiliated youth.
  The City of Dallas used its funding to support a program for women 
who have a substance abuse diagnosis and are pregnant or have children 
who are 5 and under.
  The women received comprehensive family-based support and co-
occurring substance use and mental health services on an inpatient and 
outpatient basis.
  This change is especially significant because the fastest growing 
segment of inmates are those age 50 and older, and they cost far more.
  As an original co-sponsor of the Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 
2017, I am very proud to have played a part in the development of the 
Federal Prisoner Reentry Initiative for our citizens over 60 years old.
  For the previous several Congresses, I introduced the Federal Prison 
Bureau Relief Act to amend the federal criminal code to require the 
Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to release early an offender who has completed 
at least half of his or her prison sentence if such offender has:
  (1) attained age 45,
  (2) committed no violent offenses, and
  (3) received no institutional disciplinary violations.
  The bill modified provisions related to computation of a federal 
prisoner's good time credit.
  Specifically, it allowed an eligible federal prisoner to earn a 
maximum good time credit of 54 days per year of the sentence imposed 
(instead of 54 days per year of the sentence actually served).
  It also permitted the Bureau of Prisons to restore good time credit 
previously denied, based on a prisoner maintaining good behavior.
  These modifications applied to an ongoing prison sentence imposed on 
or after November 1, 1987.
  A bipartisan consensus is developing across this country in support 
of such a policy.
  Allowing this group of nonviolent offenders to go home to their 
families is both beneficial to the inmates as well as in the best 
interest of the United States.
  There is a continuing need for re-entry programs.
  Due to the dramatic growth in the size of the prison population, the 
issue of prisoner reentry has emerged as one of the most critical and 
complex dilemmas facing the American criminal justice system.
  The United States is the world's leader in incarceration.
  According to the Prison Policy Initiative Mass Incarceration, the 
American criminal justice system holds almost:
  2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons,
  1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and
  80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration 
detention facilities, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric 
hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories.
  These trends resulted in prison overcrowding despite increasing 
evidence that large-scale incarceration is not the most effective means 
of public safety.
  The result was that an incredibly low number of prisoners over 60 
years of age were released to home confinement under the pilot program.
  Passing H.R. 4018 will not fix the entire criminal justice system, 
but it is another important step in our effort to make it a more just 
and humane system for our elderly non-violent offenders with reentry 
into our communities.

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