President Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison Thursday when he toured the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution outside Oklahoma City. During his trip, Obama urged reconsideration of the current criminal justice system.
President Obama walked down Cell Block B, taking in the two-story medium security prison, with a corrections officer and Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Charles Samuels. He peeked inside a tiny 90 square foot cell that holds up to three inmates, which he said highlights the need for prison reform.
“This is an outstanding institution within the system, and yet they've got enormous overcrowding issues,” Obama said.
Crowded prisons are common across the country, especially here in Oklahoma, where the average penitentiary is over 110 percent capacity.
“I think we have a tendency sometimes to almost take for granted or think it's normal that so many young people end up in our criminal justice system," Obama said. "It's not normal. It's not what happens in other countries.”
All week, the President has been pushing for corrections reforms, saying the mandatory minimum sentencing laws for nonviolent drug offenses are too harsh. On Monday, he commuted the sentences of 46 inmates.
“We have to reconsider whether 20 year, 30 year, life sentences for nonviolent crimes is the best way for us to solve these problems,” the President said.
During his stop in Oklahoma, the President spoke with six inmates who are serving lengthy terms for nonviolent drug offenses. He said the inmates all admitted they made mistakes and that those mistakes weren’t unlike ones many people make when they’re young.
“The difference is, they did not have the kind of support structures, the second chances, the resources that would allow them to survive those mistakes,” Obama said.
The El Reno Federal Correctional Institution offers education and job programs as well as opportunities for drug treatment, something Obama praised during his visit.
“The question is, not only, how do we make sure we sustain those programs here in the prison, but how do we make sure that those same kind of institutional supports are there for kids and teenagers before they get into the criminal justice system?”
The President recognized many changes will have to occur on the state level. But with growing bipartisan support for reforms, he’s hopeful for success.
“My goal is that we start seeing some improvements at the federal level and we're then able to see states across the country pick up the baton,” Obama said.
