those reports have not been confirm. and in any case, the situation is now in terms of the lock down, in chattanooga tennessee at this particular mall, you are looking at where this happened and some nearby buildings those have all been lifted police believe the situation is over, that it was just one person involved in the shooting and now there's some question, of course, about the status of the police officer who was shot this morning and also whether there's some marines who were inside the navy center who marry have been injured. again, here is the mayor. >> we have an officer down, we had somebody out there shooting at our army reserve center, this is a very very terrible situation and we need to go figure out how we can handle it. >> again apparently they have finished handling it, police say that the shootser essentially no long ear

threat we are still wait tegular if that means he has been killed. all the nearby facilities and according to multiple accounts in chattanooga, this entire situation is over. with one shooter possibly dead, a police officer wounded his status is not known, and perhaps some of the marines and the navy center also injured. question will bring you more information about what happened. we want to turn to another big story that happened this morning program. >> the president visited the inside of the federal prison, mr. obama toured the correctional institute, which is near the city, he had visited with inmates and talked with law enforcement officials, all of this and you can can see the video there of the president on the inside of the prison, and getting a look at what the cells look like, and then cans all of this is part of the president's effort to

reform the criminal justice system, the president is pushing for reform in materials of sentences that nonviolent criminal offenders and in fact in this particular prison, half of the population there consistents of people who are are there for nonviolent drug offenses the very sort of people. >> the speech earl wherer this week, that in fact if you look back to 1980, there were nearly 500,000 people who were in u.s. prisons that number has gone up to more than 2 million and it is costing the federal something like $80 billion a year, so there's some agreement in washington, among domes and republicans that perhaps there's some reform here that can both save money and perhaps make some of these prisoners more productive members of society. mike, i wonder if you can think about the thinking that went into this visit and what the white house was imagining

it would get out of it today. >> it is a remarkable event the certainly fascinating to watch. the first time a sitting u.s. president has been inside of an active federal prison, it's a problem that the president has create add theme around, and in fact, david, there is promise here of bipartisan action, over the course of the coming weeks as both republicans and democrats this is one of those issues where question have reached a tipping point in american society, that reform is needed on the republican side, you can see comments from house speaker john boehner this very morning, david saying that many people are locked away on flimsy pretense, there is also not the insignificantnant problem of the cost of incarcerating a near record number of people here in the united states at this moment. some $31,000 per year on average, and that's just on the federal level. those budgets are dwarfed by what is being spent on the

state level the president making a theme of commuting 46 sentences on monday, many say that's far too low this president very low in the total number of computations over the course of his presidency, just 90, compared unfavorably in terms of the total with individuals of harry truman. and then on tuesday a speech to the naacp where this was the theme of the speech, and again, this visit is historic in it's own way now after the president made the tour of that facility there looking inside that cell are block and you will hear the president in a moment that is a nine by ten cell block that houses three individuals it was originally designed to house only one the president made comments to the press that was traveling with him this is a significant portion here let's play it through.

>> i want to thank the folk whose are involved here in helping arrange this visit. at el rine know federal penitentiary, and this is part of our effort to highlight what the challenges and opportunities that we face with respect to the criminal justice center. many of you heard me speak on tuesday about the fact that the united states accounts for 5 of the world's population, we account for 25% of the world's inmates. and that represents a huge surge since 1980. a primary driver of this mass incarceration phenomenon is our drug laws are mandatory minimum sentencing around drug laws. and we have to consider whether this is the smallest way for us to both control

crime, and rehabilitate individuals. this is costing taxpayers $80 billion a year. and as i said on tuesday there are people who need to be in prison. and i don't have tolerance for violent criminals many of them may have made mistakes, but we need to keep our communities safe, on the other hand when we are looking at nonviolent offenders most of them growing up in environments in which drug traffic is common. where many of their family members may have been involved in the drug trade we have to reconsider whether 20 year, 30 year life sentences for nonviolence crimes is the best way for us to solve these problems here

there is excellent work that is being done inside this facility. to provide job training, college degrees. drug counseling, the question is not average highway do we make sure that we sustain those programs here, but how do we make sure those kind of supports are there for kids and teenagers before they get in the criminal justice center. is there a way to divert young people that make mistakes early on in life. so we have an opportunity to make a difference, a t a time when overall violent crime rates have been dropping at the same time as incarceration last year dropped for the first time in 40 years. my hope is if we can keep on looking at evidence and the facts figure out what worked we can start to make a change. that can can save taxpayers

money, and perhaps most importantly, keep families intact, and break this cycle in which young people, particularly young people of color, are so prone to end up in a criminal justice system, that makes it harder for them to ever get a job and ever be effective full citizens of this country. so i want to express appreciation to everything that is making this happen, i want to give a special shout out to our prison guards. they have a really tough job and most of them are doing it in exemplary fashion, one of the things that we talked about is how we can continue to improve conditions in prisons. this is a outstanding institution. within the system. and yet they have enormous overcrowding issues. i just took a look at a cell,

where we might have are three people housed in a cell that looked to be what, 15 by. >> nine by 10. three full grown men in a nine by ten cell. there's been some improvement now we have two but overcrowding like that is something that has to be addressed. as i said, the other day gang activity, sexual assault, inside these prisons those are all things that have to be address sod we have are to consult with prison guards wardens and others to see how we can make some critical reforms a lot of this has to happen at the state level, my goal is we start seeing improvements at the federal level and then

we are able to see states icross the country pick up and there are some that are leading the way on both sentencing reform as well as prison reform, we want to make sure that we are seeing what works and build off that. all right, thank you. >> remarkable statistics surrounding this. >> visiting with these six individuals, and i have said this before, when they describe their youth and their childhood, these are young people who made mistakes that aren't that different than the mistakes i made, and the mistakes that a lot of you guys made the difference is they did not have the kind of support

structures that the second chances, the resources that would allow them to survive those mistakes. and i think we have a tendency sometimes to almost take for granted or think that it is normal, that so many young people, end up in our criminal justice system. it is not normal, it is not what happening in other countries, what is normal is teenagers doing stupid things. what is normal is young people making mistakes and we have to be able to distinguish between dangerous individuals, who need to be incapacitated and incarcerated, verses young people who are in an environment in which they are

adept by -- if given different opportunities and different vision of life, can be driving the way that we are. that's owhat strikes me. there but for the grace of god. and that i think is something that we always have to think about. all right. thank you. >> a number of things that the president striking there and david it is important to put into context you can't ignore the events of last summer in ferguson, and earlier this year in baltimore, some of the brocks that social scientists and even the president draw direct finds roots and causes of some of the problems in this problem of what one u.s. senator has called society that is overarrested. the statistics go on and on, the united states providing for 5% of the world population but 25% of those

individual whose are incarcerated worldwide it is the leader in per capita imprisonment, if you discount the tiny island but this is a moment whether it is bipartisan support republicans recognizing this problem, there is legislation moving on both sides both senate and the house, that has a lot of momentum but keep in mind, we are talking about the federal level federal ridses. at the state level there's far far more individuals incarcerated. >> mike on washington on a historic day with president obama, the first u.s. president in history to visit a prison mike, thank you very much. >> we heard the president stalk about some reforms that are happening and of course we heard mike and the president talk about how it is the hiation incarceration rate in the world as the

prison population grows so does evidence of the harmful social impact, not just in terms of financial costs but also on the emotional costs and what that does for prisoners once they come out well, the president spoke about a number of states that have instituted reforms and al jazeera has profiled that one of those that is aggressively exploring alternative models of justice. maine is not renowned for it's ethnic diversity but hoar among the new england capitol buildings a program is underways. it asked fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of criminal justice in the u.s. prisoners are being releases early so they can learn. it hurts. in the community. >> the key is talking within a circle. >> there are five keystone

circumstance questions what happens what were folking things at the time or feeling at the time of that incident what have they felt about it since it has taken effect, who was effected and in what ways and what needs to be done to make things possible. >> . >> if their victim is prepared to seek redress instead of prison. >> there are too many people in prison, and they are too young. >> charlotte a gallery owner who chough to confront the two boys that robbed her instead of having their lived ruined by jail time. >> i just had the feeling that the kids who had done that had never really felt connected with the community. 40. >> restorative justice began to catch on as incarceration levels reached record number

and the damage to communities was recognized. in some states modern law enforcement is looking to aboriginal ideas. >> you have really messed up, and we have to figure out a way to learn from this, to make it up to the people that you have harmed and return are to being a functional person of in our commute. >> . >> it was like they were saying -- >> he broke into and vandalized a house when he was 12 he since worked for the homeowners and paid them restitution. >> the first meeting was really emotional, he was telling us how much damage we caused. he is returning to school soon, he is clear about his goal. >> those like him who make amends this way are less likely to reoffend and

almost all of those feel justice has been served. al jazeera, maine. >> coming up this has been a very frightened day for a lot of people in chattanooga tennessee. one officer was shot, multiple reports that the alleged shooter has been naturalized whatever that means perhaps it means that he is dead. we will take you to the story in chattanooga tennessee on the other side of this break.

welcome back to al jazeera america. police have given everybody there the all clear following a shooting incident earlier this morning. at this strip mall, which is apparently on lee highway, in chattanooga somebody pulled up in a car with a high powers caliber gun and opened fire on a u.s. navy recruitment office. we have a picture that shows

the damage that was done, at least 20 shots that were fired through the glass and a police officer was apparently injured and is in stable condition there were some reports of another shooting scene as well and several reports that police gave chase and then neutralized him. reporting that police killed the suspect, but in any case, the situation is over at a very frightening few hours in which a number of buildings were all put on lock down, while everybody was trying to figure out what was going on. police have not released the identity of the shooter or the police officer let's go to jaime mcintyre, live at the pentagon i wonder if you can tell us what the navy has been saying. >> the big question is was anybody wounded or killed inside that u.s. navy and marine corps center. you can see from the number

of gunshots that went through the front door, and window, that it would be surprising if they managed to escape with nobody being hit by any of that hail of gunfire righted now we have no hard information about whether anyone inside the facility was hit this is a recruiting center, a store front recruiting station in a shopping center, in chattanooga. it is the kind of facility that would have no security this is not a secure location, this is a place where marine corps and navy interacts with the public to encouraging people to walk in it is supposed to be an inviting atmosphere, and particularly the navy and the marine corps and it would be staffed by recruiters from both of those services so we are waiting so see if we can get any definitive information whether there was casualties inside the store, but at this point, the navy

has provided no additional information jaime i wonder if you can put in context the number of centers across the united states. >> this is probably something you have seen in your neighborhood, they are all over the united states, recruiting was a big issue just a few years ago when the u.s. military had the bulk up for the wars in iraq and afghanistan, now they are in a downward slide so some of these are not as business as is they used to be, one is to -- as i said bring in new recruits and offer them information about the military careers but also just to be a present in the community, so people see military people interacting in a normal setting. you can see picturing of the shopping mall, a restaurant, a nail salon, just tucked in there among other businesses but we can see this shooter

didn't shoot at the other businesses he definitely targeted the u.s. military facility. >> al jazeera, news reporter at the pentagon, we do expect some more information this afternoon, where some of the questions may be sorted out in fact whether there were multiple locations or just the one, where you can see the photograph there of more than 20 shots we will bring that news conference to you live when it happened but again, the news is that the situation in chattanooga is over, the shooter has been neutralized one officer was shot and is said to be in stable condition, we will get more information on this, including the big question and that was what was the motive in opening fire on the center. another big story, happening today and that is in washington, d.c. where the obama administration continues to try to push congress to support the nuclear deal with iran. vice president joe biden was back on capitol hill, trying

to son vince lawmakers to go along with the agreement. yesterday, the vice president spent several hours as you can see walking the halls and meeting privately, there you can see with a couple of them there. and by the way the democratic leader in the house said this morning in the wake of the meeting with vice president joe biden that she will support the deal. and this is another indication, that even if they are able to mustier votes to pass the resolution. to say we aren't going to lift sanctions on ioran, they have promise add veto, and there is every indication, to sustain a veto and in other words make sure that the agreement goes through. many say that they have very high hopes for the country once sanctions are lifting. some business owners and entrepreneurs with dollar signs in their eyes.

an executive at a car parts factory, he is like many we met. hesitant to talk politics but eager to tell us that fish a choice between iran's nuclear ambitions and the country's economic prosperity, he would choose integrated iran back into the world economy. >> iran needs to move to a more production based economy. >> it is part of iran's auto industry, one of the large nest asia, in terms production, it is second only to iran's oil and gas. he says the sanctions forced him to make parts instead of importing them now that sanctions are about to be

lifted he thinks iran is ready to export cars to the world. in addition, they have taken a bite out of the carpet industry. a few years ago business was so good but the sanctioned stopped that. >> some 20% of our population is involved in this industry when we can't export our product we have to reare lie on local demand, which is impossible to rely on itself, we will see a boom in our oindustry. >> the sanctions imposed are among some of the toughest ever imposed on a country and the effect has been rampant inflation. in my hands i have 3 million real, 3 million, of the currency unit divided into 5,000 real notes. this is worth $100.

and three years ago this was worth $250. one way they try to hedge is to buy gold. that's why he says his jewelry business tends to do well in good times and bad still, he says the plummeting currency poses challenges to doing business. >> sometimes in one hour, we have so many different prices. it causes us many problems. dy spite the hardships local hi-tech entrepreneurs told us they offered opportunities that otherwise would haven't been there for them. mohamed is founder of the idea, a technology firm that has taken off with a youtube like product that's a hit with iranians online. >> sanctions increased are costing research and development, because we weren't allowed to

collaborate with foreign companies but we also benefited from the sanctions because they forced us to develop products and services on our own targeting a captive market, still, once sanctions are lifted we can deliver our product with more officialsy. >> now that a deal is in place, many are hopeful that the chances for opportunity will only crow. ali velshi, al jazeera. >> again a busy news day. that will of course help the president to sustain the veto the president himself was at a prison today pushing criminal justice reform. and there was a frightening few hours in chattanooga tennessee, one police shot and in stable condition, the gunman allegedly killed we will have more information for you throughout the day.

this is al jazeera. hello, i am lauren taylor,s this the news hour. coming up. greece gets emergency cash to keep it's economy afloat, as businesses struggle to keep their doors open. celebrations after houthis fighters are pushed out and members of the compiled government begin to return. aingener tokyo as legislation is approved to allow japan's military to fight overseas.