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| Obama To Become First President to Visit a Prison |
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Posted by CN Staff on July 11, 2015 at 07:10:42 PT By Michael A. Memoli Source: Los Angeles Times 
Washington, D.C. -- President Obama will become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, part of a push he plans next week for reforming the criminal justice system.On Thursday, the president will visit with inmates and officials at the Federal Correctional Institution El Reno near Oklahoma City, the White House announced Friday, and will be interviewed for the HBO newsmagazine series “Vice” on the issue. The trip will follow a speech on Tuesday at the NAACP’s annual convention in Philadelphia in which Obama will “lay out his ideas to make our country fairer, smarter and more cost effective while keeping the American people safe and secure,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. The president highlighted criminal justice reform as a priority in his State of the Union speech in January, connecting it to high-profile clashes between local law enforcement and minority communities. The White House also posted video of a conversation between the president and David Simon, writer of the acclaimed television series “The Wire,” in which Obama discussed the “massive trend toward incarceration, even of nonviolent drug offenders” that began in the 1990s. “Folks go in at great expense to the state, many times trained to become more hardened criminals while in prison, [and] come out and are basically unemployable,” he said. Criminal justice reform has emerged as an issue with potential for bipartisan action on Capitol Hill. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jon Cornyn (R-Texas), have introduced separate legislative efforts in past years. The president will highlight some of those bipartisan ideas as well, Earnest said. El Reno is a medium-security federal prison housing more than 1,000 inmates. Another 248 inmates reside at an adjacent minimum-security camp, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) CannabisNews -- Justice Archives Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help
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| Comment #4 posted by afterburner on July 12, 2015 at 11:46:34 PT |
| Obama is following the Christian example of Jesus.
http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-25-35_25-46/ "I was in prison and ye came unto me. "Then the righteous answered Him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in prison, and came unto thee? "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - King James Bible "Authorized Version" Woe betide those who criticize this long-forgotten wisdom and action! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Hope on July 12, 2015 at 10:36:15 PT |
| This is an extraordinarily, truly Christian thing for the President to do. But there will be those that have no idea of that and their sadly distorted and stunted spirits are trying to figure out a way to see this as all looking suspiciously "Muslim", or something else they think is awful.
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| Comment #2 posted by Hope on July 12, 2015 at 10:27:12 PT |
| President Obama is looking like a saint to me, in this matter. People, our fellow humans, have been treated so unjustly. They have suffered at the hands of self righteous busybodies with power, given them by prohibition of a rather desired and popular substance. He's tending to the prisoners, the most maligned, the most hated, the ones being truly harmed, those who have been treated so unjustly by the system he heads. He's going to give them hope and maybe freedom. He can't give them back all that was taken from them but maybe he can get them out of those cages. Yes. That looks like a good man doing something truly righteous while he can... maybe. I hope he can. There will be naysayers and obstructionists on every hand. I can just imagine the twisted thinking and bad attitude they, the Obama haters, are going to bring to this subject. Brace yourself, friends. We have a little (or a lot) of supporting and defending to do, I expect, about this. The more "Right"... truly right things that are done in the world... is what makes the world a truly better place and more truly right actions makes mankind, humanity, and society that much better. Even little things, actions, and words make a difference. This though is not a little thing. It's very big. We have a struggle on our hands. Some people should never have been put in cages and we need to see them free. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 11, 2015 at 07:18:50 PT |
| Pope Francis Samples Coca Leaves, the Main Ingredient in Cocaine, on Bolivia Trip URL: http://time.com/3950582/pope-francis-coca-bolivia-altitude-cocaine/ [ Post Comment ] |
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