Prison Reform
Our nation’s prisons and jails are in crisis. Staff shortages, poor healthcare, crumbling infrastructure, and other chronic problems have resulted in prisons that are unsafe to live and work in for incarcerated people and correctional staff alike.
FAMM believes that correctional facilities should be safe and humane, and that people who are incarcerated should remain close to their homes in order to maintain family bonds. We support policies that provide people with rehabilitative programs, nutritious food, meaningful work, education opportunities, medical care, and substance abuse and mental health treatment.
Prison Oversight
Prisons are some of the darkest places in the nation. Reports of violence, inhumane living conditions, abuse and neglect from staff, and lack of accountability from leadership have become too common. Understaffed and overcrowded prisons that lack transparency and accountability are inhumane, lead to expensive lawsuits, limit rehabilitation for people in prison, and endanger prisoners and corrections staff alike.
Oversight refers to the different ways that facilities can and should be monitored by independent watchdog groups.
We believe that every prison system should be subject to oversight by independent agencies or third-party groups that have the authority to monitor and inspect facilities, address grievances, and provide recommendations for improving correctional departments.
2024 saw a string of success of prison oversight as Independent Prison Oversight legislation was adopted by Congress and the state legislatures in Maryland and Virginia. The Department of Justice also launched an investigation into the beleaguered Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a private prison facility in Tennessee. However, there's still work to be done.
For further reading on prison reform and the need for oversight, visit our Policy Resource Library.
Take Action on Prison Reform
Home Confinement
Overcrowded prisons remain a challenge for both incarcerated individuals and correctional staff. Home confinement has been proven to be a great, safe alternative, so why isn't it used more often?
Home confinement means people serving prison sentences complete their sentence at home, rather than in a prison facility or a halfway house. The CARES Act home confinement policy has been one of the most successful sentencing reforms of all time. Over 13,000 people were given extended time on home confinement. To date, less than 0.5% of people on CARES Act home confinement have been returned to prison for a new criminal offense. To put this in perspective, the general recidivism rate for the Bureau of Prisons is 43%.
FAMM advocates for legislation and policies that expand the use of home confinement, which can begin to heal families and lessen the burden of incarceration on taxpayers.
Visit A Prison Campaign
To lawmakers and policymakers: You don't know if you don't go. Our #VisitAPrison campaign encourages state and federal lawmakers and policymakers to visit a prison in their states or districts.
We have far too many people serving life and long sentences in our nation’s prisons. Their stories of rehabilitation and redemption are powerful but too often go unheard. We challenge policymakers to visit prisons to not only see how the money they appropriate and fund are used, but to meet the people who have been sentenced to serve decades – or their natural life – in prison. As more and more states and the U.S. Congress consider second chance legislation, we believe all policymakers should prioritize meeting those who would be impacted.
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Lawmakers accepted our #VisitAPrison campaign in 2023!