Over the past decade and a half, many of our state criminal justice systems have abandoned unnecessarily punitive and ineffective practices and instead refocused on rehabilitation and preparing inmates for a successful return to society. Now is the time for the federal system to do the same.
Attorney General William Barr’s appointment of Kathleen Hawk Sawyer as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons offers an opportunity to enact change at the federal level. For this to happen, Sawyer will need to show the same commitment, foresight, and drive she demonstrated when she previously held the role.
In 2001, when there was strong bipartisan support for so-called “tough-on-crime” policies, Sawyer pushed back and said, “70-some percent of our female population are low-level, nonviolent offenders.”
Sawyer went on to say that “[the fact that these women] have even come into prison is a question mark for me. I think it has been an unintended consequence of the sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums.” She concluded by saying that many of the incarcerated women in question should have received probation instead.
Today, many policymakers are taking Sawyer’s counsel to heart and doing away with mandatory minimum policies, finally realizing that they do little to enhance public safety but deprive both individuals of their freedom and our local communities of tremendous human capital.
Additionally, Sawyer has a long track record advocating for “good-time credits” as a way “to motivate inmates to participate in programs for personal development.” She correctly realized that increasing good-time allowances could go a long way toward reducing the federal prison population and help maintain order in prisons too.
Although Sawyer left the BOP before many of these policies were implemented on a large scale, she returns at a time of overwhelming support and enthusiasm for criminal justice reform.
With last year’s passage of the historic First Step Act, signed into law by President Trump with bipartisan congressional support, some of the changes to sentencing laws and good-time credits that Sawyer supported are now law of the land. The reforms included in the First Step Act are based largely on state-level successes, including former tough-on-crime states, that have now instead become smart on crime — and soft on taxpayers.
Of course, even with widespread support for reform, transforming a large government agency is never easy. This is especially the case for the Bureau of Prisons which, with over 35,000 employees and an operating budget of roughly $7.3 billion, has been slow to embrace change.
But Sawyer can turn to lengthy reports from the Colson Task Force, the Department of Justice Inspector General, and Congress that offer ways to build people up, reduce recidivism, and boost morale for inmates and employees working in federal prisons.
As one of the leading grassroots organizations in the country, Americans for Prosperity, where I am a board member, stands willing to work with the BOP and Sawyer to transform the culture and practices of federal prisons. One seemingly small change that could go a long way toward creating a new vision for this transformation is renaming the BOP the Bureau of Rehabilitation and Corrections.
Given new leadership and a new path forward, the renamed agency should be overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor. These agencies have experience with rehabilitation and training. Such a change would be consistent with the First Step Act and could drive even more reforms and innovations to increase opportunities for those seeking second chances while improving public safety.
No one change will transform the culture of our federal prisons overnight. But Sawyer has the experience to ensure that our criminal justice system focuses on reforms and policies that protect public safety and provide second chances for federal prisoners. Let’s just hope she follows through.
Mark Holden is a board member for Americans for Prosperity.
