Jan. 11, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting plans by U.S. House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to push legislation in the next six months that will result in the mass, early release of thousands of felons from federal prison, who told Politico in an interview published Jan. 10 “I think criminal justice reform is probably the biggest [issue] we can make a difference on… There’s a real way forward on that”:
“Not to be outdone by President Barack Obama’s plan to begin releasing 46,290 drug offenders from federal prisons, Senate and House Republicans are stepping in with their own legislation to release thousands more, including crack offenders and those who committed felonies with firearms in their possession.
“House Speaker Paul Ryan is doubling down on this risky mass criminal release scheme by volunteering to push the same legislation through the House to somehow help brand the GOP as kinder and gentler. This is reckless. At the same time police are overwhelmed with record murders in cities like Baltimore and Chicago, gang problems, Islamist terrorists and the like, Ryan and House Republicans apparently want to help empty the federal prisons. But besides the adult prison population, defense attorneys and liberal elite professors at college campuses, who exactly is the constituency for allowing thousands of federal prison inmates go early?
“It is guaranteed that a large percentage of those released early will commit new crimes. In fact, a 2014 Bureau of Justice Statistics study tracked 404,638 state prisoners from 30 states released in 2005. 76.9 percent of drug offenders were re-arrested within five years with 25 percent of the offenses being violent crimes. These crimes have real victims with dire consequences for communities.
“It is not compassionate to inject a new pool of hardened criminals into our communities, it is foolhardy, and unfortunately, it is the poorest of our nation’s citizens who will bear the brunt of it. Speaker Ryan should stop the madness of pushing this early criminal release bill through the House, because if he is successful, the surest bet on the planet is that people will die.”
Attachments:
“Why is Congress hell-bent on releasing thousands of dangerous criminals from federal prison early?” By Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, Jan. 8, 2016 at http://netrightdaily.com/2016/01/why-is-congress-hell-bent-on-releasing-thousands-of-dangerous-criminals-from-federal-prison-early/
“Congress to authorize Obama’s early criminal release program?” By Americans for Limited Government senior editor Robert Romano, Oct. 14, 2015 at http://netrightdaily.com/2015/10/congress-to-authorize-obamas-early-criminal-release-program/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Rick Manning.
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