Attorney General Eric Holder plans to press for important changes in the federal criminal justice system. His focus is on doing away with the mandatory minimum sentencing policies that have caused large numbers of non-violent offenders to serve terms in prison. Apart from the injustice, this also pushes up the costs of incarceration. Holder will speak before the American Bar Association, pushing for the early release of seniors and ill inmates who are no longer a threat to society and yet require expensive special care. Holder’s position is part of a general reform in penal policy that is spreading across the nation.

Federal Prisons Overfull

Officials are acknowledging that they are finding it increasingly difficult to bear the cost of housing thousands of non-violent offenders imprisoned mostly for drug crimes. Although states such as Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Texas have reduced the number of prison inmates by referring more offenders to treatment or probation, population in the federal prisons has grown to nearly 40% over their housing capacity, with nearly 220,000 inmates. According to the Justice Department, about 25% of the department’s budget goes to the running of these prisons.

Holder goes on to say, “About 40% of federal prisoners are re-arrested or have their supervision revoked within three years after release, often for technical or minor violations of the terms of their release.” He says that many aspects of the criminal justice system may actually exacerbate this problem, rather than alleviate it.

Civil Rights Initiatives

Civil rights advocates and lawmakers of diverse political leanings have been supporting these changes for a while now. In March, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had come up with a proposal to allow judges greater flexibility in the use of mandatory minimum prison terms.

Leahy said then, “Our reliance on mandatory minimums has been a great mistake. I am not convinced it has reduced crime, but I am convinced it has imprisoned people, particularly non-violent offenders, for far longer than is just or beneficial. It is time for us to let judges go back to acting as judges and making decisions based on the individual facts before them.”

“Right on Crime,” whose members include former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former Florida governor Jeb Bush agree with Holder. According to their mission statement, “Conservatives are known for being tough on crime, but we must also be tough on criminal justice spending,” They say that at least in some cases high rates of imprisonment have the unintended consequence of hardening non-violent, low-risk offenders, making them a greater risk to the public than when they entered prisons.

Inspector General’s Report

According to the Justice Department’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz, thousands of aging and sick offenders died while awaiting decisions on applications for early release because of their serious infirmities. He also cautioned that housing a continually growing and aging population of prison inmates was consuming an increasingly larger portion of the department’s budget. He said, “We need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, deter and rehabilitate – not merely to convict, warehouse and forget.”  Holder’s proposals are predominantly based on the inspector general’s findings.