Your First Step Act Questions, Answered!
Read FAMM’s FAQ
WATCH: Kevin Ring (President) and Daniel Landsman (Director of Federal Legislative Affairs) answer questions about the First Step Act.
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Posted by FAMM on Friday, December 21, 2018
The First Step Act (S. 756) was passed out of Congress on December 20, 2018. The bill is a revised version of the prison-reform only FIRST STEP Act (H.R.5682), which passed the House of Representatives in May of 2018. While not perfect, the First Step Act brings many long overdue reforms to our nation’s federal prison system as well as some of our most ineffective federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
This bipartisan success was championed in Congress by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Georgia).
The First Step Act only impacts federal prisoners, no state prisoners will benefit from this law.
Explainer: First Step Act Earned Time Credits Rule
FAQ: First Step Act Risk and Needs Assessment
Read a full description of the bill here
Read our fact sheet on the First Step Act
Read our statement on the Senate passage
Read the USSC’s impact analysis of the First Step Act
Read: Compassionate Release in the First Step Act
Read: FAMM Joins NACDL and the Justice Action Network to tell the BOP: A day means a day!
First Step Success Stories
Matthew Charles’ life has seen some extraordinary turns recently. After spending 21 years in prison on a 35-year sentence, he was released in 2016. He walked out of prison with nothing, but soon created a full life for himself. It turned out, though, that his release was a mistake, and in May of 2018, he was sent back to serve out the rest of his sentence—more than a decade left to go. But on January 3 of this year, Matthew became one of the very first people to benefit from the First Step Act and was released again. Read More.