c-span's "q&a." ♪ >> this month we showcase our .tudent cam winners, c-span's annual competition for middle and high school students is road to thee white house. what issues do you want candidates to discuss? rize high school west winners are from phoenix, arizona. daniela mock-zubia and sofia gradersi, 12th and 10th candidates toial discuss prison reform and a video titled "rethinking reform: prisons in america." use ago there were 500,000 people behind bars in america -- 30 years ago. today there are 2.2 million.

is home to 5%tes of the world's population by 25% of the world prisoners. every year, we spend $80 billion to keep people locked up. ♪ >> the prison systems around the united states have changed radically in the last 20 to 30 years. but let me address arizona. 20 years ago, our prison population was about 20,000 people. now our state prison system is over 40. the composition of the prison population has also genetically changed. the vast majority of our

prisoners are there for nonviolent offenses. >> the evolution of the prison system, what i saw from the outside being a native, is growing up there was only the arizona state prison. you'd see the prisoners in the community, trustees they would let out during the day to work on prison farms or ranches or in some other regard, cleaning up highways. >> while in prison, the conditions i was subjected to were very bad. there are a lot of guys in there who have high blood pressure or who have medical illnesses coming from the food over the years. i find it appalling that a guy would leave and the next person coming in will receive his old

clothes. there is a lack of rehabilitative programs that are going to give a guy a skill or trade, so when they come out they can actually be productive. ♪ >> i put my neck on the chopping block because i was in the streets doing wrong when this crime occurred. but i wasn't the one who committed the crime in the state -- and the state new i was not the one who committed the crime. going to prison affected my amily because it took away leader, a man. hard because me and

him were so close. i was three years old the first time my dad went to prison. i was real young. time went by fast. i knew him, but i did not know much about him. he got out when i was seven years old. he's been addicted to meth since he was 16 years old. break into people's houses and just take small things for extra money. he went back to prison whnen iw was 10. and he's been in jail ever since. fifth through eighth grade, all my grades for like c's and d's, and they were never really good. and before everything, i never

really had a problem with school. i think it's probably because i did not have two parents to help me. >> slowly over time you saw all these corporate prisons being built. now the prisoners are simply numbers, people with numbers who reside in this correctional institution. >> when you really look at the aspect of allowing somebody to prosper off of a criminal justice system, then there is a conference of interest. >> 20 years ago, we had virtually no private prison in the state of arizona. captured by the private prison world. we have enormous private

prisons. anyonepening more -- for to say that there is not a profit motive, all one needs to do is look at the violence in federal agencies by these corporations and you will see the profit is there motive -- their motive. >> we have come to rely too heavily on criminal justice. we need to rebalance that so we can intervene earlier on with the 13, 14 and 15-year-olds who might be getting into trouble. if we can work with those kids, i think we get a much better payoff than merely waiting until they are 25 or 30, putting them in prison for a long period of time. >> i think if i had the opportunity to advise someone seeking public office what i would say is, we need to focus on our goals. be first andht to

foremost rehabilitation and opportunity. you're going to spend your money on programs that will help. and there are places that do that. this is not the most complicated science of all time. upon my release, i was only able to see my mom four times before she passed from cancer. and this is what fuels my advocacy for rehabilitation and reentry, because she always told me she wanted to do something right with your life. that was my promised before she passed. ♪ watch all of the documentaries and this years

student cam competition, visit student cam.org. today, a discussion on the role the senate plays with judicial nominations. senate judiciary committee meber patrick leahy and orrin hatch speak about the issue. live coverage at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span 2. ♪ >> madam secretary, we proudly our delegate votes to the next president of the united states -- ♪

>> live today on c-span, "washington journal" is next. the house returns. at 2:00, members take up 14 bills, including an aviation security bill and an emergency preparedness bill. at 8:30 eastern, live results from primary salts. -- results. minutes, terry madonna, director of the franklin and marshall college center for politics and public affairs, gives a preview of the pennsylvania primary and the state's role as a swing state in presidential elections. at 8:30, john della volpe, polling director of the harvard institute of politics on a poll of millennials and their views

of campaign 2016. at 9:15 we talk to terry madonna -- to dr. john noseworthy president and ceo of the mayo clinic on health care in america. ♪ host: good morning. it is tuesday, april 2016, 2016. the senate convenes at 10:00 a.m. noon and meets at will move to legislative business at 2:00 p.m. we begin discussing recent state and federal efforts to aid felo ns as they reenter society. last week virginia's governor took action to restore voting rights to 200,000 prisoners in the state. whether you think