The recommendations of a bipartisan congressional task force on reducing the federal prison population have drawn praise from some evangelicals and at several points parallel the recommendations of a 2013 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) resolution on “America’s growing prison population.”
Among the recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections were elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for some nonviolent drug and weapon-possession offenses; implementation of a Second Look program to permit early release of some inmates who have served at least 15 years; and provision of additional faith-based programs in federal prisons.
Federal prisons held nearly 200,000 people at the end of 2015, according to the task force’s Jan. 26 report. This number is 20 percent above capacity. America’s local, state and federal prisons combined hold more than 2.2 million inmates on any given day, marking the “highest incarceration rate in the world.”
The task force estimated that the implementation of its recommendations would reduce the federal prison population by 60,000 inmates and save the government $5 billion.
“I am delighted to hear the recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force,” said David Crosby, a member of the 2013 SBC Resolutions Committee and the primary author of the prison reform resolution’s first draft. Prison overcrowding “diminishes any prospect for rehabilitation, exacerbates problems with inmate violence and creates unsafe work environs for public employees. As Christians we must be concerned about these conditions.”
The Colson Task Force issued six broad recommendations in its report, each of which included multiple specific policy proposals:
- Preserve prison for those convicted of the most serious crimes.
- Promote a culture of safety and rehabilitation in federal facilities.
- Incentivize participation in risk-reduction programming.
- Ensure successful reintegration by using evidence-based practices in supervision and support.
- Enhance system performance and accountability through better coordination across agencies and increased transparency.
- Reinvest savings to support the expansion of necessary programs, supervision and treatment.
The SBC resolution, adopted by messengers assembled in Houston two and a half years ago, similarly expressed “support of legislative policies that seek to reduce high incarceration rates without jeopardizing public safety” and affirm that “probation and parole may serve as a wise, just and effective alternative to prolonged incarceration for certain nonviolent offenders.”
Mark Wohlander, a former federal prosecutor and member of Immanuel Baptist Church, Lexington, Kentucky, affirmed the task force’s recommendations.
‘Nothing more’
“The implementation of the federal sentencing guidelines and abolishing parole in the federal system have combined to ensure that federal prisons continue to be nothing more than warehouses,” Wohlander said. “What Congress failed to understand when the guidelines were promulgated was that incarceration had four purposes: retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. Guideline sentencing has all but eliminated the most significant purpose of prison, that is, rehabilitation.” (BP)
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