Obama becomes first sitting president to visit a federal prison
theGrio REPORT - As part of his ongoing campaign toward prison reform, President Barack Obama has become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison with his visit to Oklahoma's El Reno.
As part of his ongoing campaign toward prison reform, President Barack Obama has become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison with his visit to Oklahoma’s El Reno.
As the president chatted with inmates, he seemed to realize that these men, who were part of the prison’s drug rehabilitation program, were not that different from him.
“When they describe their youth and their childhood, these are young people who made mistakes that aren’t that different than the mistakes I made,” Obama said.
“That’s what strikes me — there but for the grace of God,” he added. “And that is something that we all have to think about.”
On Monday, he also commuted the sentences of 46 drug offenders as part of a push to reform a system which too often keeps nonviolent offenders locked up for over-extended periods of time.
“We’ve got to be able to distinguish between dangerous individuals who need to be incapacitated and incarcerated versus young people who, in an environment in which they are adapting but, if given different opportunities, a different vision of life, could be thriving the way we are,” he said.
He noted that he was not advocating for the release of violent offenders, only those whose nonviolent crimes and the “tough on crime” laws passed in the Clinton era landed them in prison for decades. “There are people who need to be in prison,” he added. “And I don’t have tolerance for violent criminals.”
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