Barr: Justice Dept. ‘all in’ on criminal justice overhaul

EDGEFIELD, S.C. – Leroy Nolan spent the past 26 years behind bars at a federal prison for a drug conviction. In the prison factory, he makes T-shirts, backpacks and other products that are sold to government agencies, nonprofits and others.

But what has become a decades-long routine for Nolan, 67, at FCI Edgefield, a prison in rural South Carolina, will change Friday when he walks out the front door. He is among about 2,200 federal inmates who will be released that day by the federal Bureau of Prisons under a criminal justice reform measure signed into law last year by President Donald Trump.

The measure, known as the First Step Act, gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders, eases mandatory minimum sentences and encourages inmates to participate in programs designed to reduce the risk of recidivism, with credits that can be used to gain an earlier release.

On a visit this past week to Edgefield – a facility with a medium-security prison and minimum-security camp – Attorney General William Barr saw some of the programs, from computer skills to cooking, auto mechanic training and factory work. He met with prison staff and inmates, including some who will be released early under the First Step Act.

Barr’s visit signaled a policy shift since his first stint as attorney general in the 1990s, when he exuded a tough-oncrime approach, advocating for more severe penalties, building more prisons and using laws to keep some criminals behind bars longer.

Barr said the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons are “all in in terms of making it work.”

Trump has touted the overhaul as a rare bipartisan effort to address concerns that too many Americans were imprisoned for nonviolent crimes as a result of the drug war. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, helped persuade him to support the measure and clashed with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who did not see criminal justice reform as a top priority.

In the culinary skills class at Edgefield, aspiring chefs told Barr about how they earn restaurant-level food preparedness and safety certificates so they can try to find work after they are released.