House Speaker John Boehner’s statement last Thursday calling for criminal justice reform was a welcome cap to a week of bipartisan and inter-branch voices calling for reform of our federal prison system. The speaker is the latest in a long list of conservatives championing an approach to sentencing and corrections policymaking that is not just “tough on crime” but right on crime.

In just one week, the speaker announced that he supports criminal justice reform efforts in the House of Representatives, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a two-day hearing on federal criminal justice reform and President Obama became the first president in modern history to tour a federal prison.