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                                   January 2012 • Vol. 35 • No. 1           

In This Issue

Corrections and Congress:
2011 in Review

By Eric Schultz

The 112th Congress has now concluded its first session and is headed into a presidential election year, when the tone of debate can be even more contentious then usual and votes will most certainly be criticized and critiqued throughout the year. As the November elections draw closer, it can be expected that fewer and fewer votes of consequence will be held and the likely passage of legislation will decrease dramatically. Of course, “noncontroversial” bills may get through, but any disagreement between Democrats and Republicans, or between the House and Senate, will kill a bill for sure.

2011 was not a particularly productive year for Congress in terms of criminal justice issues, a point that has been reflected repeatedly in polling. Congress’ approval rating is as low as it has ever been. Congress did pass the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) Appropriations bill as part of a “minibus” package of appropriations bills prior to the end of the year. Despite the need for drastic cuts in federal funding, programs nearest and dearest to corrections were cut modestly and/or received adequate-to-healthy funding from Congress. 

The Second Chance Act programs will receive $63 million in funding, while the Mentally Ill Offenders Treatment and Crime Reduction Act programs will receive $9 million in funding. Funding for justice reinvestment programs will come from the Byrne-JAG program and receive $6 million, $2 million less than fiscal year 2011.

The Byrne-JAG program rose from $431 million to $470 million in funding. The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which provides reimbursement to the states for housing alien offenders, was cut from $274 million to $240 million — a 27 percent cut. However, SCAAP was targeted by the administration for significantly deeper cuts. The Residential Substance Abuse Treatment program was cut from $25 million to $10 million. Funding for prison rape prevention and prosecution programs was maintained at $13 million. 

Overall, juvenile justice programs were cut from $276 million to $263 million. State formula grants were reduced from $60 million to $40 million, delinquency prevention programs were cut from $54 million to $20 million and the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program was cut from $46 million to $30 million. 

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much legislative activity in this Congress on issues of substance to the corrections profession. Congress failed to make any progress on the Second Chance Reauthorization Act (SCRA) or the National Criminal Justice Commission Act (the Webb bill) and neither the Justice Reinvestment Act nor the Safe Prisons Communications Act was introduced in the first session. SCRA has been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee but was not brought up for a vote in the Senate. The Webb bill was offered as an amendment to the CJS Appropriations bill but the amendment was defeated. It was not reported out of committee.

In September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) completed and published its report, Improved Evaluations and Increased Coordination Could Improve Cell Phone Detection. The report confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is experiencing problems with contraband cell phones. The number of confiscated phones is increasing and they pose a serious safety risk to inmates, staff and the public. GAO also recommended that BOP further enhance its assessments of available technologies, and that it should leverage what has already been learned by the states before it adopts any different technologies.   

The Deaths in Custody Reporting Act passed in the House overwhelmingly as it did in the 111th Congress. It was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in November, and is the one bill with significance to corrections that is most likely to pass and become a law in this Congress. The bill simply requires states that receive certain criminal justice grants to report quarterly any deaths that occur in their systems to the attorney general.

In June, the Senate passed the Presidential Appointments Efficiency and Streamlining Act. The bill would exclude several positions from the constitutional requirement of “advise and consent” of the Senate, including the directors of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Office for Victims of Crime. In October, Congress passed and the president signed the U.S. Parole Commission Extension Act into law, thus extending the Parole Commission for another three years. 

The House Judiciary Committee did not prioritize correctional issues much in 2011, nor did the Senate Judiciary Committee. The House committee did hold a hearing in October on federal sentencing and the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Perhaps the most significant hearing in 2011 for the corrections profession was one held by the House Homeland Security Committee in June on “The Threat of Muslim-American Radicalization in U.S. Prisons.” The hearing was one of several held relating to Muslim Americans and terrorism. The focus of this hearing was whether or not prisons are grounds for radicalization of Muslims and for terrorist recruitment.

Moving forward into 2012, it is difficult to foresee passage and enactment of any legislation of consequence or significance for corrections. While it is possible that the Webb bill could pass, because it is largely noncontroversial and has a very modest cost associated with it, it is more likely the bill will be approved as an amendment to larger legislation. Moreover, with Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., retiring at the end of this year, passage is somewhat critical. SCRA may find light in the Senate, but support for passage in the House in an election year is uncertain.

Eric Schultz is ACA’s director of government affairs.

 

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