"Folks, this is what legislating looks like," Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the leading Republican sponsor of the bill, told reporters on Monday. "Sometimes there are disagreements, but you come together and you find compromise. "The bill would require the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a part of the Justice Department, to do risk assessments on which inmates should qualify and earn credits toward completing their sentences in halfway houses or home confinement.It would broaden job opportunities for inmates, expand laws on compassionate release of prisoners, prevent the BOP from using restraints on pregnant inmates and allow prisoners to earn early release credits of up to 54 days for good behavior.The good behavior provision would allow for the early release of an estimated 4,000 prisoners.The House bill contrasts with one in the Senate championed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley. It would lessen prison sentences for non-violent drug offenders.How the House bill will fare in the Senate remains to be seen. While some Senate Democrats and Republicans have indicated they will support it in its current form, others may oppose the bill unless sentencing reforms are added to it.Adding such provisions could doom the bill because more hard line law-and-order conservatives would then likely oppose it.New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the leading Democratic sponsor of the measure, told reporters on Monday that lawmakers should seize the opportunity to pass some criminal justice reforms, even if they don't go far enough.

Source: Egypt Today May 23, 2018 01:18 UTC