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rail system and a look at federal initiatives at this year's internet policy conference. a bipartisan group of congressmen, senators rob portman and al franken along with jim sensenbrenner took part in a panel about the criminal justice system. we will hear from piper curman,

author of "orange is the new black" about her experiences in a federal prison. this event was hosted by the constitution project in washington, d.c. thank you. it's really a pleasure to be here with you for the constitution project to be sponsoring this program and to welcome so many of you this morning particularly those from house and senate staffs who will be engaged in many of these very same issues over the course of the next few months. it is interesting because this is a city in which the common wisdom is everybody fights with everybody all the time that democrats and republicans, conservatives and liberals can't get along, don't get along, don't want to get along and more interested in making partisan points than in solving any of the country's problems.

interestingly, that has not been the case in recent years in the area of criminal justice reform. conservatives and liberals democrats and republicans alike have come to the conclusion that the system that has developed over the course of the last few decades in this country isn't working, we are spending a lot of money and some states second only to education is the prison budget to incarcrate americans for all manner of crimes some of which didn't exist a few decades ago. as a consequence we have looked at these things and come to the conclusion that we have to work together. in this space, if you will, there are a lot of groups now that didn't exist some years ago. there are groups on the left and groups on the right. i was a founder with pat noland. we were meeting years before that group was found. we were meeting with liberals as well as with conservatives to try to find some way out of the impasse that resulted from

partisan bickering and grand standing over the years. one of the problems with dealing with the public on these issues was that it devolved into a fight among straw men. and forgotten in the middle was the society and the victims and the citizens. and as we looked at that we realized that that had to be broken. what we had to do was look at criminal justice questions first from the basis of the reason that we have it. you know some years ago when ken cuccinelli stepped down to argue and was given an apard as a result he said the problem with the criminal justice system is that too many people forget the middle word in that phrase. and it was our decision and our

conclusion that we as people cannot afford to forget that middle word. there needs to be justice for victims. there needs to be justice for society. and there needs to be a just way that people can pay their debts to society and reintegrate into the civil society once they paid those debts. and that's what the whole move, the bipartisan move for criminal justice reform has been about, to get away from old rhetoric to look at evidence to see what works and what doesn't work not to lobby for prosecutors and criminals, but to lobby for a system that serves the civil society in which we all exist and for which it was set up and to serve the ends of justice rather than the ends of idea logical and partisan making. there are groups on the right.

there are groups that van jones is involved with that are somewhere else. and then in the middle there is the constitution project which tries to bring these groups together. this panel today really represents a cross spectrum view of this problem. i'll introduce the panel members as we go on but i have to say that from the beginning our representative here represents a group that has been interested in criminal justice reform from the beginning. family is against mandatory minimums really was started with the assistance and support of the foundation and we appreciate that and all else that you have done. i can say the same if we had some of our very liberal benefactors here because this is something that has attracted support from way different parts of the spectrum. we have a number of folks

dropping in so we are going to handle this sort of casually. congressman danny davis is here. i would like him to say a couple of words. congressman davis is from illinois. he has served in the congress since the '90s. he has taken an interest in these issues before others paid much attention to them. congressman. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much. let me just say first of all how delighted i am to see so many of us here and how delighted i am to see the diversity of this panel of experts and interested individuals and organizations that are involved. all of us are practically aware of the fact that mass incarceration is one of the big issues that face our nation,

that we are the most incarcerated nation on the face of the earth. whether you are talking about proportion of the population or whether you are talking about actual numbers. even countries whose populations are minor compared to ours and, of course populations that are major compared i got interested in the re-entry question because i think it is one of the most challenging issues that we face today. fortunately, we were able to put together a group who passed something called the second chance act and it involved democrats, republicans members of the house members of the senate, grass roots groups research groups, university

groups every kind of individual and group that we could coalesce. after several years of discussion we managed to pass legislation based upon knowing two or three things concretely. one, that about 700,000 people come home from jail and prison every year. those who get no help are likely, that is two-thirds of them, are likely to do what we call real fen, something to get them back to where they came from. the level and quality of the help that they get will reduce their re-incarceration tremendously. the higher the quality, the greater the reduction. the more opportunities that they

get, the more help. moneys have been appropriated, never enough but we have actually had appropriations each year. there are about 600 agencies, groups organizations who right now are and have received appropriation from the federal government to work on the issues. that's pretty significant because they have also generated thousands of other entities who didn't necessarily receive money. some of the stall warts are on this panel who have been pushing it. i always like to mention senator rob portman who was one of the original, original promoters of the concept and the idea. there are others who joined in. there are other whose have

become a part. i am just excited that so many of you view this as an issue that we need to keep working on. i always say that we have only scratched the surface. we can never believe once we get to the basement that we are in the penthouse. so we have much further to go. it's a pleasure to know that this forum is taking place today and we expect great things to happen. again, i can't help but mention the diversity of the interest gives me real heart that thijs are going to happen and i thank all of you for being here. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you congressman. as a midwesterner i have to note that congressman davis from

illinois mentioned now senator portman from ohio and congressman sensenbrenner is here, as well. congressman sensenbrenner is from wisconsin as am i. and i think i have known him since he was in high school. and in the years that he served in congress in the judiciary committee and elsewhere he has been both tough on crime and sensitive to the need to improve and reform the criminal justice reform. he is very sensitive and working in the area of mental health and crime. a few months ago someone observed that in every single state in this country there are more people who have been determined to be potentially dangerously mentally ill in our jails and prisons than in all private and public mental health facilities in those states. it's a real problem on the inside and outside and congressman sensenbrenner is working on that.

and throw in a side issue i noted today that he has legislation on civil asset forfeiture which is a problem that one of my old heroes henry hyde also a midwesterner fought to correct for many years when he was in congress. so jim. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much for that very kind and generous introduction. yes, you have known me since i was in high school. at that time my hair was black. there was years that have gone by sense less here and more there. i guess that's the way it will be with all of us. you are younger than i am. you never did disclose to this group where you were when we first met. i will leave it at that. don't want that tmi here.

i am the former chairman of the house judiciary committee. during my chairmanship the first second chance act was passed. we will have to re-authorize it. we tried in the last congress and it didn't make it across the goal line. in the last congress judiciary chairman created a task force on overcriminalization and made me the chairman of it. overcriminalization is an affront to personal liberty and expensive and inefficient way to deal with a lot of problems. there are an estimated 4,500 federal crimes on the books. congress is adding about 500 new crimes in each of the past three decades. and still many more regulations and rules state that if not abided by can result in criminal

penalties including incarceration. the united states now houses about 25% of the world's prisoners despite representing about 5% of the world's total population. overcrowded prisons are a costly burden to taxpayers. federal prisons cost taxpayers $7 billion a year and states now spend more than $50 billion a year up from about 9 billion in 1985 which was only 30 years ago. it's the second fastest growing area in state budgets trailing only medicaid. there are smarter and more effective ways to deal with criminals. and i am about ready to introduce a series of bills that will address overcriminalization. i don't expect any of my colleagues to vote for all of them. i also don't expect any of my

colleagues to vote against all of them. but i think the best way we can get some legislation and hopefully a lot of legislation passed is to split it up and then have different coalitions coalesce around different proposals. first, congress should begin by going through the entire body of federal criminal law starting with all statutes that carry jail time operating under the presumption that every statute should be eliminated unless it can be justified as essential. we need to focus on reducing resitivism among federal offenders reserving prison space for violent and career criminals and insuring transparency and accountability. we should look at establishing earned credits for supervised offenders and incentivising inmate participation in programming or drug treatment by

allowing them to earn additional time off of their sentence. and we need to use inexpensive evidence-based programs that defers low-risk offenders from prison and limit what prior drug felonyies can trigger the double sentencing enhancements. federal prisoners should receive programming that helps improve their re-entry chances and likelihood of success once they leave the prison. i will soon be re-introducing the second chance reauthorization act which does just this as congressman davis mentioned in his remarks a few minutes ago. and finally many states have led the way on passing reasonable legislation that protects public safety while reducing resitivism. it is time for washington to look to the states to explore how it can be smart on crime. now, in conclusion let me say that one of the things that the

overcriminalization task force came up with is we were asking specifically how many regulations -- those are bureaucrat passed rather than congress-passed laws carry prison time. and congressman bobby scott of virginia who is my ranking member and i sent a letter to the congressional research service that asks them to tell us how many of these regulations carry prison time and which agencies promulgated these regulations. we got a letter back from crs saying they didn't have the staff to do this. there were so many of them and it was so complex. there in lieathizes the problem. this is something that the judiciary committee and hopefully both houses of

congress can address so that an 11 year old who found a humming bird who is injured and put it in a cage in her house for a few days to allow the bird to recover in order to survive in the wilderness does not have her mother get fined and threatened with prison for caging up a migratatory bird. that shows how ridiculous some of the laws are and that is why this congress is going to address it. i look forward to your support in helping us lead a way to put sense into sentencing and put sense into incarceration and make sure that the public is protected from people who want to do really bad things and helping a humming bird regain the bird's strength so that the bird is not killed when it goes back out into the wild is something that makes no sense. we ought to get rid of it.

thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. overcriminalization is one of the things that adds to the prison population as well as prison time and jail time for crimes that might better be handled in other ways. it is one of the things that not only the judiciary committee. i want to recognize senator cory booker who i believe is here. he hasn't been in the senate long enough to know that he should filibuster. i recognize his presence rather than ask him to come up and talk because he indicated he wants to learn rather than lecture. so on to lectures. van jones who you know was in the obama administration and at cnn and has worked in and is interested in these problems, as interested as anyone. i would like to ask him because one of the things he has been

doing is studying how we got to where we are. how did we end up with 25% of the world's prisoners in our prison system? and then move on to what can be done about it. if you don't know how you got there it is pretty hard to figure out how to get out. van? [ applause ] >> you can do it there. [ applause ] >> first of all, i am sitting at the table, van jones, with my new good friend from koch institute. that should be a headline by itself just the fact that -- just met you.

anyway, this is an historic moment. it's funny but it really shouldn't be. i think we have been talking past each other for a long time. i think we have missed opportunity after opportunity for a long time and that's why you have 595% growth in the federal budget incarceration when probably both sides know there are better and smarter ways to get where we are going. i come before you because i had a show on tv with a guy named newt gingrich. a show called cross fire. we fought every day and didn't agree on one thing except this issue. talking with newt gingrich i realized i made a terrible mistake in my judgment and my assessment of where libertarians were on this issue where conservatives were on this issue. and when you make assumptions

about where people are coming from you miss the opportunity to do good stuff for the country. it turns out that our liberal side side -- people on the right were only concerned about being tough on crime and not being smart on crime and that there was not a sense that the christian values, religious values and every soul matters could be a part of this conversation, that we shouldn't be wasting money.

conservatives shouldn't be for that. so i say that to say that we have gotten into an insane

posture but there is wisdom available. where is the wisdom coming from? three places. number one, the juvenile justice system quietly thanks to the casey foundation has achieved a 50% reduction in the number of young people who are locked up in our country with no increase in youth crime. nobody knows positive steps forward. since the main source of the problem has been a lack of communication, a lack of trust a lack of honest discourse and dialogue about how we can have safer streets, better communities, more successful young people, the most important thing that can happen is what is happening right now. i want to thank the constitution project for their leadership on this when it wasn't in the headlines. give a round of applause to this organization and what they have been doing laying the groundwork. quietly laying the groundwork getting leaders together to discuss this.

big rhetoric very minuscule results. that is now the big danger because we now can see that we had a hearing and if you want to go on youtube and hear probably the best speech i have ever heard on criminal justice senator booker gave it thursday. he is one of the great leaders

the crime is down. the system is clearly broken and not just conservatives and liberals but libertarians libertarians, all three have come together to say we can do better. now, in a moment like this where you already have multiple bills i want to make sure to name check the bills out there. you have multiple bills out there in motion on the senate side and now more on the house side. those of you who are here, you have the ears of your bosses. you have the ears of your chiefs of staff your political directors, the members. they are going to get flooded with all kinds of stuff that we

are going to disagree about. this is your opportunity to go back to your office and say boss, we can actually get something done. we can actually get a real result. there are going to be people in our communities who are going to actually have a safer better community, better neighborhood better outcomes because we can actually get something done. i want to praise before i sit down those leaders who have come forward. senator booker and rand paul have legislation they put forward. that needs to be taken seriously and supported. durbin lee here in the senate supported in the house. they have the smarter sentencing act. the resitivism reduction act is brilliant and needs to be supported. and the public safety act federal reform act needs to be supported. and lastly the record

expungement designed to enhance employment, these need to be supported. the last thing i want to say is this. i love debating. i love ideas. i love theory. i love being right more than you know. this is the time to put data above demagoguery and evidence above ideology. if there is ever an issue where we have to be data driven and evidence based when you are talking about spending public dollars to both take someone's individual liberty in the name of making communities safer both of which are precious, liberty is precious, community safety is precious.

all of that i want to say to you as a partner and to you as partners and to the great leader on this whole thing you have this whole ball rolling a long time ago. you are not going to hear it from us. there is a racial dimension to this and we are going to talk about it respectfully. there is a gender dimension to this we will talk about respectively. we will lay down all of the demagoguery tools that we have at our disposal in the name of getting something done and to arrive at a country that actually has liberty and justice for all. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> actually van said what needs to be said. that's that pat was in the space before virtually anybody else. last year the conservative political action conference we had a panel on criminal justice reform and one of the panelists jenny said all you have to do is take one of these guys and lock them up for a few months so they get a look at things on the other side and come out changed. i thought there are a lot of people that ought to be locked up for that reason. people get locked up for all kinds of reasons and get abused and mistreated by the criminal justice system. pat was republican leader in california in the assembly years ago and did get roped in by the criminal justice system, learned what it was all about. when he had an opportunity he came out here to work with chuck

holson and to do something about a system that he saw that didn't work and dehumanize those in it. one of the problems we face is that the public hasn't cared much about this because once you are locked up you are sort of no longer part of the human community. they don't care or pay attention to how you are treated or worry about what happens when you get out or worry very much how you got in. pat has actually been there from the beginning putting together coalitions, the second chance act that congressman davis and congressman sensenbrenner talked about is in many ways a tribute to the work that pat nole nd has done over the years. van, you are absolutely right. if there is a real champion other than jenny of course it's pat noland.

>> well, that's an introduction. my father would have enjoyed and my mother would have believed. but really i attribute it to chuck holson. he had the vision. he could have gone out and practiced law and instead dedicated the rest of his life to calling to attention to the fact of the injustice of our system and the dehumanization of inmates. and he offered hope to inmates and established prison fellowship for that. i was blessed to work with him and prison fellowship for 15 years. through that my political contacts among conservatives

helped build on usual support for issues. and it's interesting because most people assume that conservatives are motivated for reform by economics. my experience is not that. it's the moral issues that motivate us. and van hit on that. the first issue after i got out of prison we were involved in was harry reid was trying to strip prisoners of their religious liberty protection. it was ted kennedy and john ashcroft and dan coats that said no and beat back that effort. and then passed the religious act this past week the supreme court used to protect a muslim's right to have a beard inside prison. that was this unusual left/right

coalition. following that open society institute said what will we work on next. we thought second chance act that rob portman went to work on. john conniers has been involved in it for years. danny davis. it was, again, a left/right coalition. the essential message of the second chance act is that prisoners are people we should care about. their future after they leave prison is something that matters to us. and human dignity is an important part of it whether you are religious or not. those of us who are religious know each of us is a child of god created in his image. it's that divine spark that gives us dignity. government should never strip anybody of that no matter what

they have done. and yet piper has done such a good job humanizing prisoners. prisoners are continually debased. i was in prison a little over 29 months probably 1,000 times i was told you ain't got nothing coming. and said with disgust. it says you are nothing. you come from nothing. you will be nothing. now, i came from a good background. i had a great education. i have had leadership positions. even though those words hurt i was able to take it. think of the young kid from an abusive household and got into drugs at 13 and ran away and lived on the street never completed their education, how are they going to take something like that being told essentially that they are worthless and they have no future? one of the things the second chance act did was say we are going to invest in your future.

we are going to put together programs to help you prepare to live a productive contributing life in your community. you can have a valuable life. this is not the end of your life. we worked on the prison rape elimination act, the dirty little secret nobody wanted to talk about. and yet thousands literally tens of thousands of prisoners are raped each year. you think about it. one of the reasons conservatives are caring more about prisons is there is no form of government domination greater than imprisonment. the government takes you from your home from your family from your community, from your job, strips you of your ability to choose where you sleep, who you associate with, what you eat, what you do with your time. the normal decisions we take to protect ourselves whether it is

going with a buddy or going in lighted areas or arming ourselves to protect us from being beaten or raped we are not allowed to do inside prison. the government strips us of the ability to defend ourselves and leaves us helpless. so we are preyed upon by other inmates. one of the things that brought conservatives to the table teddy kennedy had been fighting this fight for years but also brought frank wolf to the table and a whole array of conservatives was the idea that the government has a moral responsibility to take care. if we are going to strip somebody of the ability to defend themselves the government has a moral responsibility to make sure they aren't preyed upon. jeff sessions said it well standing in the senate swamp, ted kennedy unlikely characters

co sponsors said i sent thousands to people to prison for terrible crimes but not one of the sentences involved being raped. it was that moral statement that was so powerful in helping us pass it. so i just want to establish there is amorally moral basis for this. the economics of it the diversion of money that can go for schools, for roads, for hospitals that instead go into prisons, all of that is important. the hole that it puts inside our state budgets eating up so much is important. it really is -- that's the thing that allows conservative legislators to explain why they are doing these moral things. why the impact on the budget is there. and i have to take my hat off to pugh. the data that pugh has provided not only the figures but putting it in context, their publication

1 in 100 showing 1 in 100 americans was in prison or jail. 1 in 41, those under government supervision, that's really something that opened the eyes of conservatives 1 in 41 americans is under government supervision. it comes from overcriminalization. it comes from the government being in charge of so many aspects of our lives. i will leave you with this. an irs agent going through the capitol intimidating legislators in california said to one of my colleagues senator, we can carve our paddle to fit anybody's -- that is frightening if the government can say we will fit you to the crime. that's what barilla told stalin.

he said you bring me the man, i will find the crime. conservatives and liberals need to care that the government has so much power they can create a crime from all of these available. i am so glad that mr. sensenbrenner, mr. davis, that mr. portman are dedicated to helping us stem the tide of this powerful government, making sure that our policies make sense and bringing together people left and right they care about liberty and freedom and public safety. thank you. [ applause ] you know the problem that we face consists of putting too many people in prison, treating them badly when they are in prison and then not doing much to prepare them for their

release and their going back into a civil society when they leave prison. those are big big problems that have a lot of complications. and as i said earlier it really is in terms of the public that once someone is sentenced and goes away they are forgotten about. and in the institution they are as pat said ordinarily treated as if they are less than human, as if that is part of what it is all about when it isn't because what that does is prepare them not for the re-entry into civil society as self-sustaining citizens and free citizens but turns them into something that will ultimately end up right back where they started. chuck holson and pat brought faith to the problem. i remember at chuck's funeral i told this story before i was sitting at the reception and a fellow came up to me and we introduced each other.

he said i first met him when i was in prison. he came to me and he said god has a plan for you. and he said i looked at him and i said i have no doubt about that but it is a really terrible plan. but by having faith and respect for the dignity of individuals whether they are prisoners or not allows people to re-enter into society. no system is perfect. not everybody who gets out is ever going to go straight as they put it. there are going to be problems. but we owe it to those who have their freedom taken away by the state to see to it that they are treated well, as pat said, and that they have a real opportunity. shining a light on the way people are treated once they go away is incredibly important to this. and our next speaker, piper kerman has done that through her memoir of the time she spent

incarcerated and the television show orange is the new black which came from that. she has shown just what it is like and why we need to do something about it. it's your turn. [ applause ] >> pat your words really remind me that for every person who traverses our criminal justice system it is a cruseble that you have to survive and that changes you in ways that are indelible. thank you very much for your work and for your words. i also want to thank the members who made this day happen, all of them from both sides of the aisle. very grateful and all of you who came out today spent a good

chunk of your valuable time here fantastic. there are many members of congress who also have prioritized these issues in their own work and i am grateful to them again on both sides of the aisle. we know that so much of the prognosis made particularly over the last decade would not have happened without republican contribution and leadership. i want to tell you all i made my notes in one of my prison diaries to keep it real here. so in 2004 i was sent to federal prison. i was sent for a first-time, nonviolent one-time drug offense that i had committed in 1993. and about 50% of the people in the bureau of prisons are doing time for drug offenses.

25% of the people are folks like me, low level, nonviolent offenders. but unlike me many of those men and women are doing serious time shockingly long sentences cht those are prison terms that i think are a waste of taxpayer dollars. they are a waste of time, quite bluntly, having lived inside b.o.p. that is not time well spent on the staff side or prisoner side. and those prison sentences are a tremendous waste of human potential because there is so very little rehabilitation going on within the bureau of prisons and within many other prison systems. i was so very, very fortunate to do only 13 months of fed time. and when i say fortunate i don't mean lucky, i mean fortunate. i mean that i was able to hire a

former u.s. attorney to represent me in court. i mean that i had many many privileges that most defendants do not have. 80% of people who are accused of a crime are too poor to afford to hire a lawyer to represent them in court. and our criminal justice system the data shows very clearly that our criminal justice system disproportionately pursues and punishes people of color. so i went to bed on that first night in prison and what i was saying over and over again in my head in that top bunk was i am so lucky. i am so lucky. i am so lucky. and prison is by design a harsh and horrible place. so it might surprise you to hear that i was saying that. i was also saying i have no idea how i am going to survive this year. i was saying i'm so lucky.

here is why. in prison the only acceptable ice breaker is to say how much time do you have? you don't want to ask a lot of personal questions right off the bat. during those first 12, 18 hours in prison dozens and dozens of women had approached me and said how are you doing? rough day. do you need anything? how much time do you have? and i would quaver out 15 months. and they would immediately start doing math problems. they were calculating the good time that the bop gives, 87.2% of your sentence that you serve. they say keep your nose clean and you will be out of here in 13 months. and it seemed only polite to sort of squeak back to them how much time are you doing? and some of them were doing short time like me but a lot of them were not. a lot of them were doing much, much longer sentences than i was.

five years seven years ten years. i went >> really, really well. because the bureau of prisons is very overcrowded. so you will get to know people really, really well. and, as i came to know those women well, i came to know their families well, those were lucky enough to have visits. i saw them in the visiting room with their kids their6 d8 families, their own parents and i,and i came to know those women day-to-day so very, very well in a way that only prison can really do. it became impossible for me to believe that those women had committed crimes that were so much worse than my own offense. and the only conclusion that i could draw was that they had been treated very, very differently by the criminal justice system than i had. because of socioeconomics and because -- in some case --

because of the color of their skin. and so for me, this inequity is the most fundamental reason to reform the criminal justice system. that's for me, personally. so that some day, all americansm

place to fix the current system that we have: i can tell you, i travel all over this country. and i am amazed i have like, thousands and thousands of people have come out all over this country mid wesz southwest, you name it, i've been there. and e and they come out and they want to learn more and they want too discuss these issue. it is really, really exciting. what i hear sfr e fwr them is getting low-level offenders out of confinement in prisons and jails so that we stop misusing brizs and jails on those folks.

incarceration doesn't fix public health problems. and, in fact, it often makes them worse. finally, what i hear sfr them is a huge amount of agreement about focusing substantive and, to your point, this is already happening. but more substantive rehabilitation resources for children in the system and for young people, you know, not 18 and up but still young so that we can get those folks out of the system. everyone understands that those investments in young people will yield dividends for all of us. we know that those things can be done because they're already being done. they're being done out in the states. we've seen so much innovation. we've seen state governments move legislation successfully. so we know it can be done in congress.

we've seen them reap the rewards rewards. we've seen them enjoy better more mindful spending of taxpayer dollars. and so it is time for federal government to catch up. here's the thing about the criminal justice system. it's a system. if you go in there and start noodling around with one part of it, you're not going to get really good results. there's no "fixing prisons" if you don't fix sentencing. you have to do multiple fixes to make the system work better for all americans. so thank you very much for coming out. [ applause ] >> thank you.

indeed preparing people for the outside is supposed to do it but it doesn't do it very well. i remember attending a graduation for. g.e.d. a junior college level in a federal prison and standing next to a couple who had driven 12 hours to be there when their son was receiving a gchlt emt d. he was prouder than anybody i've ever seen on the outside. they drove 12 hours, they stood there, they got back in their car and headed west back to their home and their job. >> at least that boy was going to have a chance because he took the opportunity to do what he

could to prepare hems. i'm not sure the system itself made it that easy. but that's incredibly important and something that we need to be looking at. the senator from minnesota was coming by, just another fixing the system. so if he's here, we'd like to welcome in. and then i'd like to introduce mark holden. back when conservatives were first stalking about doing something about these problems and, first recognizing the seriousness of it, polk industries was already involved.

and that's what they'd be working on. so it's really with a great deal of pleasure that we welcome you to the microphone. and i see that you and dan have survived over there? [ applause ] >> thank you, everyone. i have the coveted speaking spot right before lunch. so i appreciate that. very glad to be here. it's achb honor to be here on

behalf of coke industry. this is a great cause. this is a great issue. it is so important to all of us. many of you have had the same experiences. this is a big issue. and this is one that's exciting. we can all work together on and put our differences aside and just focus on something that's really going to help a lot of people. let me just focus on the u.s. justice system, is probably the best justice system in the world. we have a lot of dedicated public servants defense lawyers, public defenders, you name it, they do a good job. but our system still needs a lot of work, obviously, as we're here today. we think it needs to be improved.

it fulfills the bill of rights. that's what this is all about at the end of the day as americans. it needs to better protect americans. all and especially the most disadvantaged and help improve society. and as we've heard here and as you all know, who gets hurt the most in the criminal justice system are those who can least afford to endure it. and that's wrong. and we need to fix that. over the past six months we've had a lot of people come up to us and say why is coke involved on this? why are you involved in criminal justice? i thought i would answer that question here today for those of

you who might have the same questions. and let me just start by saying as i say, it goes back over ten years. and, first, we're drawn to these issues because of our belief and the rule of law and particularly, the true gene yusz of life. we believe those rights must be a reality and have fulfilled a providence in all americans. it provides a blue print. the rights containing the bill of rights, it's important. they cannot be taken from an individual. these are natural rights. an unalienable rights.eq/úñ

they weren't given to us by the government. it's an important thing to remember. we must be engaged to help all people. particularly the fifth and sixth amendment. that's why it says the fifth amendment, we've got to make sure before we take anyone's life, liberty or property, you have to have a due process of law. the sixth amendment guarantees the right to defense counsel. we need to remember that as we work in the coming months to try to fix the system that's not working now. and i don't need to go4l into the over criminalization issue. you've heard it here today.

you'll hear more of the impact it has on everybody across the board. and i want to talk just briefly about why did we come to the table? why coke industries? here's the story. many years ago, our employees met with the texas tate environmental regulator, disclosed inaccurate report filed and that we were out of compliance. our people said we were going to work diligently. pretty straight forward. these meetings happen like this every day around the country.kñ

some cure yousz activities during the grand jury process were a key piece of evidence where the state regulator had been ma nip lated to create a falsz narrative. we were told by ourself lawyers, and we were lucky, we could afford the best."7ujñ plead guilty, cut your employees loose and let them fend for themselves. we did not do that. we could not do that. we did not believe they had done anything wrong. six years later, the government's case clapgsed.

after that, we looked internally and externally. what can we do to try to make the world a better place extermly. we fixed our compliance standards. and then we started to work on criminal justice reform. we did that. we as a large company -- but once we were there, once we got involved, we couldn't stop.

every one of them touched points in the system. from enfrill to exit. >> and then to the next point about what happens in sentencing and what happens ink5 reentry you've got to fix them all. i needs to be comprehensive. it needs to be big. and we need to do it. this will have such a positive impact on so many people's lives. about a month ago, there was an

op ed.e=lvç since then we have seen so many letters, e-mails doctors, defense lawyers, public defenders, educators hourly workers, law enforcement, inmates, prison officials former prison officials young old, urban, rural.1x everybody has a story here. this is something we can all work on. that's what's such a great thing. we think we have a great opportunity here with all of these groups and all of you in the room. we think we have a great opportunity to improve our criminal justice system and improve society for all americans we need to try and seize it. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> thank, mark. i think that mark's observation there the beginning on the good job that's done in the system is well-worth noting. in talking about over criminalization and treatment in the prison, pat likes to talk about the fact that we spent too much time punishing people that we're mad at when what he we shoumd be using the prison system for is to deal with people that we're afraid of. nothing should be taken an an endorsement that we should be lean yent. p

even the worst offenders need to be treated with some dignity. [ applause ] >> i've already commented on the fact that it's midwesterners that are really concerned about these issues. great crowd. thanks for warming them up. i want to thank the constitution project for hosting. thank you, david, for the introduction.&irrx it's quiet a feat to bring together a group of speakers in

such a broad array of backgrounds and perspectives. and i think that speaks to the importance of this and making our criminal justice system fairer and less extensive.n i want to thank all of you for being here today. it's not a particularly devicive issue. or should not with. and, again, the fact that david introduced me can all agree that the state of overinkarst5 krags

and the united states is damaging to the health of our communities and our economy. and it is a tragedy. is that is the use as a substitute for a fully functioning mental health system. the statistics speak volumes in the nation's three biggest jail systems. approximately 11000 prisoners undergo health treatment on any given day. as the sheriff put it in my hometown, local jails are the

largest men tag health facilities in this state. and this holds true across the nation. and burden of the criminalueás o justice system serving as a substitute mental health system goes with cases involving people of untreated mental illnesses. this doesn't make sense for public safety.& it certainly doesn't make sense for taxpayers who are stuck with a bill for overcrowded prisons. and the cost of addressing mental health needs within the criminal justice system and just the incredible waste of human capital and the waste of human beings, lives and time.

in the face of these realities we need to take a comprehensive approach. elected officials and stake holders at the local state and federal level must work together to address the unique needs of persons with mental health in the justice system. >> the reas must not stigmatize as those people are a vibrant part of our communities. is that's why i plan to reintroduce the jmhca very soon. jmhca would reauthorize myqd! kra, that catch chill acronym is the mentally ill offender treatment and crime reduction act.

it would make improvements to the mental health justice system. it would emphasize the use of mental health-based practices and health programs are proven to reduce ra sidivism. it would also provide veter ran's treatment courts which are instrumental in addressing the needs of veterans. 34 of whom are likely to suffer from p.t.s.d., may be involved in substance abuse to medicate

the invisible wounds of war. last congress, we came very close to getting this piece of legislation enacted. the bill had the support of 54 co-sponsors in the house.íolzág i had a republican carrying it in the house. again, it was extremely bipart san. we almost got this done. it was held up by someone who put a hold on it. and that person has retired.

which is good. [ laughter ] >> as far as the bill is concerned. tremendously fine, fine fellow. most importantly, this willmake a real difference in communities across the nation. a little over a year and a half ago, i was in columbia heights mn mm, which is a suburb of the twin cities to do a round table on crisis intervention training. >> so i was at the columbia heights and the county sheriff

wasn't there. he was supposed to be there but had something else. the county attorney told me that everybody there had gotten the c.i.t. training. he was there on a monday. and, because of it on tuesday, he did not kill a guy. i said oh, can you give me a more garden variety story? so there was a policewoman there and said can you do that? she said well, okay u let's see. a fill few months ago, i was out on duty and i heard this woman screaming. and i thought it might be some domestic abuse thing or something like that. and i found her and she was just screaming.

when i started coming, she ran to a railing.2d she would have dropped not to her death, but would have hurt herself in the playground below. i used my training and i talked her off the railing and i started talking to her and she said that she had been sexually abused as a child and that the abuser had left her life for years, but had recently come back. so i said to her, well, i think i can get you some help.oñ show got her some help. well, a couple months later, two, three months later, i was working a street fare. and the woman comes up to me and says to me, you saved my life. and i said okay, that's the garden variety story. and she said i used c.i.t. training every day. practically every day.

i'll holster a gun once in my career, but i use it every day. they said, you know, when you watch msnbc on the weekends i don't know if any of you guys ever watch msnbc. but on the weekends, they have a prison -- what's it called? "lockdown." >> one of my favorite shows. >> good. your favorite show. well, the guys are referencing it for me because they said, you kno/miyñ when the guys -- like when the guardsáw,s have someone they can't deal with and they have to put all this equipment onto go in and

subdue the guy and tackle him and get him down, you can avoid all of that if you just have c.i.t. training. and he says, very often if you just talk to the guymñ you don't get there. he said, boy, that saefs a lot of wear and tear on us. ñ÷ so the brands that support programs like crisis intervention training are the only ones within the criminal justice system. so the work we're disz cussing today is incredibly important. we cannot let another congress go by without letting this legislation get across the finish line.

i'm really asking you to help me with this. i'll keep fighting. i have colleagues on both sides of the chambers. we're very serious about this. but we need your help to get this bill passed. and your support of the effort will be critical on educating other members and ensuring that we finally get it done. now, i've got to go back to a judiciary hearing. but i want to thank you, again, for having me. and for all the work that you're doing together. and i look forward to working with all of you to continue working with the criminal justice system. thank you. >> thank you, snats xx franken. staying in the midwest, but moving over to the republican side of the aisle, rob portman

from ohio is here. senator portmanl÷ in the house and the senate, has really been a champion in this whole area. and we would like to welcome him to make a few remarks. and then we've got an announcement from vanmented and then i'm going to let you all go to lunch. [ applause ] >> thank you for the sustained effort. _ i rook around the room and see some of you are on the legislative side. senator corey booker is here listening. i love that.

we've talked a lot about these issues on the floor of the senate. they are left-right issues. they are issues that i think go to the very heart of how to empower people, how to help people when they're in trouble. and everything we do on the economic issues, international issues and so on are important. but ultimately this is about the people we represent. i'm sure that they and their families have the ability to achieve their god-given abilities. so thank you all for being here adding a little hollywood flare to the whole thing, you know. my co-sponsor is an important piece of legislation.

i'm going to talk about a great opportunity and a bipartisan basis to make in the next couple months. this is legislation that passed the house about ten years ago. i was in the author in the house but worked very closely with danny davis. and danny took over the bill when the majority shifted and actually got it done. and it's one that we kept bipartisan all through the process.(tñj that's sometimes tough. no republicans would support what that approach was. and they said no we want to get something done here. same on our side of the aisle. and that's what we've got to get that has to prevail. and if it does we will get this

legislation introduced in probably two weeks through the process again. this is a reauthorization of second chance.[ñ it's really exciting because you're getting so many people engaged. $19 million has gone to ohio under this program. our residivism rate has gone down by 11%. we're really proud of that. we don't measure it in those numbers. we measure it in terms of lives saved.