Greetings Mr. Frank D.

Lucas, as a Northern Oklahoma College student I would like to address

the problem of inmates being falsely accused (at least 425 people) and put in jail for a crime
they didn’t commit. The Bipartisan bill is a good thing in my eyes.

The Bipartisan Bill will help us and the community and, once the law is signed, thousand of
inmates will be eligible for immediate sentencings, reductions, and expanded early-release
programs. The bill would also help shorten mandatory minimum sentences for some non-violent
drug offenses that would also include lowering the mandatory “three strikes” penalty from life in
prison to 25 years. Another benefit of passing this bill would provide judges greater liberty to use
so-called safety valves to go around mandatory minimums in special cases. The Bipartisan Bill
can also help pregnant inmates so they are closer to home and not shackled when they are
giving birth. The First Step Act makes heavy investments in a package of incentives and new
programs intended to improve prison conditions and better prepare low-risk prisoners for re-
entry into their communities. The US incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in
the world. The increase in jail population from less than 200,000 in 1972 to 2.2 million today has
led to unprecedented prison overcrowding and put tremendous strain on state budgets. The US
has 5% of the world’s population but nearly 25% of them are imprisoned.

I believe it would help the criminal world because some of the “criminals” they put in jail don’t
deserve to be in jail because they are innocent. Since 1989 the US has used DNA testing to
exonerate 225 innocent people after they have already spent years in captivity. At least 123
people have been exonerated from death row since the 1970s. Condemning the innocent
makes a mockery of justice, robbing men and women of their dignity, relationships, time,
opportunity, and freedom. Wrongful convictions also endanger the public because locking up
the innocent lets more violent culprits free or reduce sentencing because of overcrowding.
People can be wrongly convicted because of eyewitness misidentifications, junk science, false
confessions, government misconduct, snitches, bad lawyers, and more. “Tunnel vision” is a
leading cause of wrongful convictions and investigators who jump to conclusions, don’t
investigate other suspects or fail to review evidence with skepticism in order to close a case
faster are perpetuating the problem. Those on trial are innocent until proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt and this bill would help keep these innocent people from being wrongly
convicted and provide programs that would help with overcrowding and more.

Recently Jussie Smollett was arrested for disorderly conduct but was found not guilty and only
had to do community service. If it was a poor man saying that then he would still be in jail and
still fighting for his innocence or he would have to pay an expensive bond. It’s not right when the
rich do something wrong and they don’t get punished for it and poor people do just because
they don’t have money. Maranda ODonnell was arrested for driving without a license and was
held in the Houston jail for 3 days. Her case is similar to thousands of people in Texas,
California and around the nation who are arrested without any findings of being innocent or
found guilty because they don’t have enough money to pay for their release. The typical jail is
about 60% filled with not convicted “criminals” but with people awaiting their trails, stuck behind
bars not because of their guilt or innocence or to their risk to flee but because of their poverty.
It’s not right if you do the bad thing that is against the law you know the consequence therefore
you should not do it, even if you are rich you still know the law so they should still have to do the
time like they didn’t have the money.
Sincerely
Cyle Maxwell
Work Cited

Fandos, Nicholas, New York Time, Bipartisan Criminal Justice Bill, December 18, 2018.
Lopez, German, Vox, The First Step Act, December 11, 2018.

Hughs, Virginia, National Geographics, How many people are wrongly convicted, April 28, 2014.

Griffin Riley, Recht Hannah, Green Jeff, Bloomberg, First years ends, October 5, 2018.

Prison fellowship, Wrongful Convictions, sometime in 2019.

Dwyer Colin, npr, Jussie Smollett faked attack, March 14, 2019.

Times editor board, Los Angeles Times, How the poor get locked up and the rich go free,
August 16, 2017.