[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 213 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PROBLEM WITH OUR PRISONS

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                            HON. KWANZA HALL

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 16, 2020

  Mr. HALL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the 
problem with our prisons. Earlier today I included in the Record a 
hyperlink to an article from Reuters. The article draws attention to 
private prisons, the death penalty, and Covid. These are longstanding 
scourges in our criminal justice system. Also on that list of problems 
but not mentioned in that article are life sentences, the federal 
sentencing guidelines, and solitary confinement.
  I had supplemented to my earlier statement, and to the article, an 
appropriations proposal that, were I here during the appropriations 
process, I would have submitted so that it may be integrated into 
future appropriations vehicles. I submitted this article, along with 
troubling Georgia statistics.
  I would also note that I am submitting this statement and article on 
the same day that I introduced three pieces of legislation:
  The first will seek to eliminate qualified immunity in police 
misconduct cases. Often times, police officers, when confronted with 
allegations of official misconduct, will invoke qualified immunity as a 
shield to liability. It is very difficult for putative plaintiffs/
victims of police misconduct to surmount this privilege. This bill, if 
enacted into law, would end qualified immunity throughout the nation 
and make it easier to hold police accountable.
  The second piece of legislation is a constitutional amendment, and 
concerns forced labor. The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery. 
Unfortunately, a vestige of this practice still remains in the form of 
forced labor as a function of prison sentences. This proposed 
constitutional amendment would end this practice. These pieces of 
legislation are fully drafted and ready for filing.
  The third piece of legislation is one which would expunge all records 
of nonviolent offenders impacted by the ``war on drugs'' and other 
various crime bills for any state and local government that is the 
recipient of federal crime dollars.

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