Saunders: Trump can move beyond pardons to prison reform

In pleading Johnson’s case, Kardashian shrewdly seized upon draconian federal sentencing practices that can put low- or mid-level nonviolent offenders away for decades, even life — thanks to a system so rife with abuse that some Senate Democrats and Republicans are determined to change the law.

These officials don’t argue that offenders like Johnson should not go to prison; instead they maintain that federal sentences should more closely reflect the crime. Violent drug kingpins, not underlings, should be sentenced to life, they argue. Hence, the ACLU and the conservative Charles Koch Foundation both have advocated for Johnson’s early release.

They have not found a ready ally in Trump, who at the 2016 Republican National Convention criticized President Barack Obama for ending “decades of progress made in bringing down crime” with a directive to federal prosecutors not to go for the maximum sentence available.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been perhaps the most stalwart opponent of reform efforts in Congress.

Trump World, however, rarely presents itself without a counter force. On this issue, son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been a persuasive and effective advocate for criminal justice reform. This is an issue that is personal for Kushner as his father was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions.

Kushner has corralled his family experience behind a prison reform bill that passed the House by a 360-59 vote. Support was unusually bipartisan with 226 Republicans and 134 Democrats voting yes.

The First Step Act, sponsored by Reps. Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., would increase the good time credit, ensure inmates are placed within 500 driving miles of their families and provide incentives for inmates to complete rehabilitation programs.

Senate should get on board

Trump has pledged to sign the bill. So what could go wrong? The U.S. Senate.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has come out against the measure’s risk assessment mechanism, which among other problems, would “give far too much discretion” to the Trump administration’s Bureau of Prisons.

Jeffries rejects that claim. “Ultimately, it should be our mission to improve the lives of the people we are here to represent,” he wrote in reply. But it is not only Democrats who oppose First Step. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has blocked the House bill because it excludes sentencing reform.

It would be great if Kardashian’s appeal for Johnson’s release changed the president’s heart by putting a face on a system that throws small-fish nonviolent offenders in prison until they die. But if it doesn’t, the Senate should go for a win that eases the way for federal inmates upon their release.

And really, how can sentencing reform advocates demand a bill that fixes runaway federal sentences when they failed to send a bill to President Barack Obama, who favored the idea, in 2016?