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ACTION ALERT! FedCURE's Write Congress Campaign: H.R. 1475


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FedCURE NEWS and Legislative Updates

29 June 2oo9 [Updated]

CLICK HERE | PLAY VIDEO

Congressional Black Caucus |
Community Re-Investment Taskforce.
SYMPOSIUM:  Rethinking Federal Sentencing Policy
Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Sentencing Reform Act" Sponsored by:  Harvard and Yale Law Schools.

| Wednesday, 24 June 2009, 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM |

U.S. Capitol Visitors Center,

Orientation Theater South

Washington, DC.

  • Hon. Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Eric Holder, Jr., Attorney General, Department of Justice
  • FedCURE: Panel 4: Good Time Allowances, Community Corrections and Re-Entry
  • Federal Criminal Justice Policy Makers

Introduction of Justice Stephen Breyer by

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Executive Director 

Remarks by

Hon. Stephen Gerald Breyer  
Supreme Court of the United States

 Kate Smith, Acting Dean, Yale Law School

 
 

MAP:  http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/Visit/Image%20-%20Large%20Capitol%20Complex.gif

Press:  ABC, NBC, CNN (Covering Highlights) & FedCURE News (Taped gavel to gavel coverage, plus exclusive follow up interviews with the nation's top CJR policy makers).

VIDEO: To obtain video footage of this event and or fees for video production, contact FedCURE at: http://www.fedcure.org/contact.shtml

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click here for:  Symposium Information and Presentation Materials

 

22 June 2009 (Last Update)

June 2009 - Schedule of Upcoming Events:
 
  • Tuesday, June 9 - 12:30 till 2:00 pm - Goodwill Industries briefing on The Road to Reintegration: Goodwill Industries' Call to Action to Ensure Successful Reentry for People Who are Former Offenders. B-340 Rayburn
  • Tuesday, June 9 - 4:30 till 6:30 pm - Briefing by Congressman Davis on the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act. Speakers include Joshua Dubois, White House Director of Religious Affairs and Rep. Barbara Lee, Chair of the CBC. Room B-369 Rayburn. RSVP to Helen.Mitchell@mail.house.gov 
  • Wednesday, June 10 - 3:30 pm till 5:15 pm - Showing of new documentary THE FARM: 10 DOWN (flyer forthcoming), about the Angola Prison at Open Society, 1120 19th Street, NW, Washington.
  • Thursday, June 11 - 11:00 am - Meeting at Open Society office, 1120 19th Street, NW, Washington on the Democracy Restoration Act to restore voting rights in federal elections. Please RSVP to Garima Malhotra, garima.malhotra@nyu.edu  or  (212... 
  • Thursday, June 11 - 2:30 pm - Senate Judiciary Crime Subcommittee hearing on Senator Webb's legislation to create a national commission to make recommendations for criminal justice reform. FedCURE, Mark A. Varca, J.D., Acting Chairman, Subcommittee Testimony:  http://www.fedcure.org/documents/FedCURE-Test-M.A.Varca,ActChr-SCJ-SCD-NCJCA-Hrn.g110609w.pdf
  • Monday, June 15  - Noon till 2:00 - public lobby session on DC anti-gang legislation 
  • Tuesday, June 16 - Noon - Meeting focusing on reentry issues in the District of Columbia. Sandwiches will be served. Please rsvp to Gretchen Rohr at grohr@uls-dc.org 
  • Tuesday, June 16 - 8:30 am - Joseph L. Rauh Lecture at the UDC David E. Clarke School of Law 
  • Thursday, June 18 - Noon - Cato Book Forum: Dred Scott's Revenge, A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America.
  • Wednesday, June 24, 2009,  4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice Harvard Law School, Congressional Black Caucus Symposium:  Rethinking Federal Sentencing Policy - 25th Anniversary of the Sentencing Reform Act.  U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. Capitol Visitors Center, Orientation Theater South, Washington, DC. (FedCURE on Panel 4 ~ Second Look: A Hybrid System of Federal Parole and Good Time Allowances). Details:  http://www.fedcure.org/documents/CBC-Symposium-240609-FedCURE_Panel-4.shtml
  • Friday, June 26 - All day - Time Banks USA conference in Madison, WI.
  • Saturday, June 27 - Palm Harbor, FL. - A celebration of Dr. Kenny Linn's Life, FedCURE's former Chairman:   A Memorial.  http://www.fedcure.org/bios/linn.shtml.
 
NEW!
 
FedCURE Subscription Donation Program - $7.00 per month reoccurring payments to support FedCURE:

Please go to our Donate & Join page at: http://www.fedcure.org/join.shtml   Select the "SUBSCRIBE" button (FedCURE Reoccurring Payment Subscription).  You will be taken to our secure PayPal page.  Enter your payment information and your done. 

Thank you for supporting FedCURE and its work.  You can feel good about it.

 
FedCURE Action Alert:
  • FedCURE Contact Congress Campaign:

    H.R. 1475 - `Federal Prison Work Incentive Act of 2009' - 'A bill To amend title 18, United States Code, to restore the former system of good time allowances toward service of Federal prison terms, and for other purposes.  Status:  Submitted  by Rep. Danny K. Davis (D. ILL) on 12 March 2009. 

    Action Alert:  Do your part.  Contact your Congressperson(s) and urge them to support this bill.  Go to:  FedCURE's Contact Congress Page at: http://www.fedcure.org/ContactCongressREP-SEN.shtml

 

Pass it ON!  Pass it ON!
 
Removed Action Alert & Update:  FedCURE's 100,000 Letter Writing Campaign
 
Up Date:  
  • FedCURE's "100,000 Letter Writing Campaign" produced almost 24,000 letters to the United States Sentencing Commission.  Albeit, not 100k, we were heard loud and clear.  Your letters worked.  FedCURE was on the docket for the United States Sentencing Commission's public hearing, held in Washington, DC, on 17 March 2009 at 4:30pm.   FedCURE strongly urged the Commission to adopt FedCURE's public comment to amend the Sentencing Guidelines to  incorporate a hybrid system of parole and good time allowances. 
     
    Sadly, on 01 May 2009, the United States Sentencing Commission released its proposed amendments to the guidelines manual, effective 01 November 2009.  See:  http://www.ussc.gov/2009guid/20090501_Reader_Friendly_Amendments.pdf.  You should be mortified to learn that there is not one word about "parole" or "good time allowances"  throughout the 57 pages of amendments; and that there are no reductions in sentences, whatsoever, only increases. 

      Federal Parole and Good Time Allowances Legislation:

      There are now two separate bills:

      1.  A Hybrid System of Parole:   
      FedCURE draft legislation is pending in Rep. Danny K. Davis' office.  FedCURE is also seeking Republican support. Stay tuned. We will post more information as it becomes available.  Please do not clog up the FedCURE discussion group, blogs and or e-mails with redundant questions on the timing of introduction of this bill.
       
      H.R. 1475 - `Federal Prison Work Incentive Act of 2009' - 'A bill To amend title 18, United States Code, to restore the former system of good time allowances toward service of Federal prison terms, and for other purposes.  Status:  Submitted  by Rep. Danny K. Davis (D. ILL) on 12 March 2009. 

      Action Alert:  Do your part.  Contact your Congressperson(s) and urge them to support this bill:


       

      T U.S. Senators Directory

      T Senate Judiciary Committee

      T U.S. House Judiciary Committee

      T House of Representatives Mail Labels (word.doc)

      T FedCURE's Contact Congress Page

      Bookmark:  http://www.fedcure.org/documents/HR1475.shtml

      Former bill, H.R. 7089 (same text):

      Full text in PDF:  H.R. 7089 in PDF.
      Background:
      On 11 September 2008, FedCURE attended a meeting in the office of Rep. Danny Davis, which lasted about two hours. In attendance were Rep. Davis' point person for two bills being considered, two ex-Wardens, another Congressperson, the Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel of the U. S. Parole Commission and members and lobbyists for a number of advocacy organizations. All together there were probably twenty or so people in the room. The good time bill will get a minor language tweak and should be ready for submission late next week or early the following week. Basically it restores the old law good time statutes that were repealed (Title 18 USC Sec. 4161-4166). If passed, it would shorten prison sentences measurably for everyone but lifers. We spoke with Rep. Davis one-on-one after the meeting to convince him to introduce the parole bill now as well to keep the momentum going. He has no objection to doing this, but will not introduce it at the same time with the good time bill. Time is short because the House is supposed to adjourn at the end of September. FedCURE will be pushing to get him and his staff member to finalize the parole bill and get it introduced, but there is no guarantee this will happen. We are moving along a lot slower than we would like, but that is the way Washington works and there is little we can do about it. All in all, we are pleased that these issues are front and center on Rep. Davis' agenda and we think we can see major support develop early next year.
      On 06 May 2008, FedCURE had extensive meetings with Rep. Danny K Davis (D IL) and his key staffers.  The Criminal Justice Tax Relief Act of 2008 (CJTRA) authored by FedCURE has been changed in a couple of significant ways and will probably have a new name.   For now it is titled The Federal Release Revision Act of 2008.  Without going into detail (the devil is always in the details), suffice it to say that increased good time and parole review by the United States Parole Commission for those given over a certain length of sentence are the two focuses of this bill.  FedCURE is very happy at the outcome.   The proposed bill will still affect each and every inmate in some positive way. 
      Rep. Davis has formed an advisory panel of a number of federal judges, a former Deputy Attorney General, a couple of post-conviction defense counsel, key Judiciary Committee staffers and representatives of the BOP, Parole Commission, Probation Services and other government agencies,  FedCURE is finishing up the rewrite and will be forwarding a copy back to Rep. Davis' staff for distribution of a highlighted talking points bulletin to the Advisory Panel.  The Panel is being asked for a twenty day turnaround for comments at which point another rewrite will doubtlessly take place before it is presented to House Counsel for their dissection  of the details to make sure they conform to whatever statutory changes would have to take place in the event that the bill passes.  All of this takes time and we are aware that time is of consequence.  Rest assured we are pushing as hard as we can to get this bill introduced as soon as possible.
      On 20 April 2007 FedCURE met with the point person for Rep. Danny K. Davis of Illinois the main sponsor of last year's federal parole bill - H.R. 3072.   FedCURE also spent about one half hour with Rep. Davis.   Subsequently, FedCURE drafted a new bill titled: The Criminal Justice Tax Relief Act of 2008 (CJTRA), which will take a different focus. The CJTRA would establish a hybrid system of parole for all federal offenders. The bill is estimated to save the U.S. taxpayers $4 to $7 billion dollars annualy.  
      The CJTRA, would, inter alia:
      • Reinstate the old parole statutes and make amendments thereto.
      • Make all offenders eligible for parole.
      • Increase good time allowances.
      • Give jurisdiction to the United States Parole Commission to set release dates in accordance with applicable parole guidelines or the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, whichever is lowest. 
      • Provide for reduction in term of imprisonment of elderly offenders.
      • Clarify parole procedures. 
      • Provide post incarceration supervision.  
      • Apply prospectively and retroactively. 
      • Extend the life of the United States Parole Commission for twenty years.

      FedCURE Reports:

      Congressional and USSC hearings:     
       
      • House Committtee on the Judiciary - Hearing on: H.R. 6509, the Reauthorization of the U.S. Parole Commission.
       
      Hearing 16 July 2008:
       
      FedCURE, Dr. Kenny Linn, J.D., LL.M., Chairman, Testimony on H.R. 6509:
       
       
      • U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies: 
      Hearings 10-12 March 2009:
       
       
       
      • United States Sentencing Commission.

      USSC Hearing 17 March 2009:

      FedCURE, Dr. Kenny Linn, J.D., LL.M., Chairman, Testimony USSC:

      http://www.fedcure.org/documents/USSC-KHLFC-260309.pdf

       
      • Senate Judiciary Crime Subcommittee hearing on S.714 - National Criminal Justice Commission Act 2009:
       
      Hearing 11 June 2009:
       
      FedCURE, Mark A. Varca, J.D., Acting Chairman, Subcommittee Testimony:
       



       
      The Second Chance Act of 2007
      Public Law 110-199
       
      The Second Chance Act of 2007 - was signed into law by President Bush on 09 April 2008. Public Law 110-199.
      The bill was introduced in the 110th Congress on 20 March 2007 as H.R. 1593.   Just a week after the re-introduction of the bill, 28 March 2007, members of the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 1593 out of committee.  During the mark-up of the bill, members voted down several amendments that would have jeopardized the bipartisan support for the bill.  Sen. Bidden introduced S. 1060, an identical bill, in the Senate on 29 March 2007.   On 02 August 2007 the Senate Judiciary Committee passed out the Second Chance Act.  Unanimously. The Second Chance Act passed in the Senate, late Tuesday night (11 March 2008) and awaits the signature of President Bush before it can become law. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 347 to 62 to pass the Second Chance Act on 13 November 2007. The bipartisan bill was passed by voice vote, last night, after the Senate adopted a concurrent resolution (H Con Res 270) that made minor changes to the Second Chance Act, including limiting the federal share of project costs for some reentry programs.
      FedCURE called on President George Bush to sign the Second Chance Act in to law at his earliest convenience. During his State of the Union address in 2004, the president coined "America is the land of second chance, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life." He announced a proposal that would make $300 million in grant money available over four years for prisoner reentry initiatives, including those involving faith-based groups. The President is to be thanked for getting the ball rolling.
      The President signed the Second Chance Act on 09 April 2008 at the White House. Public Law 110-199.
      For updates send an e-mail to:
      FedCURE-org-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
      Gene Guerrero, Director of The Open Society Institute/Open Society Policy Center (SOROS) is the lead lobbying effort behind this legislation.
      Congratulations to Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., the lead sponsor of The Second Chance Act (H.R. 1593) and Joseph R. Biden, Jr., D-Del., the lead sponsor of a companion Senate measure S.1060.
       
       

      Click Here: FedCURE News and Legislative Updates - Archives 2oo7 to 2oo3

       

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