For most of human history, prisons have been a place to punish — not rehabilitate — those who broke the law, and Puerto Rico was no exception. Gov. Ricardo Rossello changed that. In 2017, he tasked me with transforming Puerto Rico’s sprawling, bureaucratic Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and with it, our philosophy toward incarceration. This meant focusing as much on the dignity and rehabilitation of people in the prison system as we did on security.

While fundamental, security and public safety concerns do not negate our responsibility to offer inmates a meaningful, constructive life. This principle drives Puerto Rico’s approach to incarceration, and we are pleased to see it driving Congress’ as well. We support the FIRST STEP Act’s efforts to boost education and rehabilitation programming in federal prisons as a meaningful reform to our country’s prison system, and we urge congress to consider what Puerto Rico has already done as an example of what works.