Obama calls for enfranchising felons and limiting solitary confinement

President Obama just gave a major speech calling for criminal justice reform. The speech presented an expansive yet detailed argument not only for reducing the number of people serving time in prison, but for changing the way prison time is spent so that individuals return to society better-equipped to succeed. [...]

Obama said he wanted to talk about proposals "in the community, in the courtroom, and in the cellblock" - but was built upon a basic thesis, that the American criminal justice system "is not as fair as it should be," and that "while the people in our prisons have made some mistakes, and sometimes big mistakes, they are also Americans." "Mass incarceration makes our country worse off," Obama said, "and we need to do something about it." [...] "If folks have served their time, and they've re-entered society, they should be able to vote," he said, to loud applause. Such a change would affect approximately 4 million people around the country who currently cannot vote because of their criminal records, even though they are no longer incarcerated.

Second, Obama called for prisons around the country to take a hard look at the use of solitary confinement and revealed that he had asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch to "start a review of the overuse of solitary confinement across American prisons." (On the official POTUS Twitter, Obama was quoted in a way that made clear the attorney general would only be looking at federal prisons.)

source: Article 'In Sweeping Speech, Obama Calls for Enfranchising Felons and Limiting Solitary Confinement' by Leon Neyfakh; www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/07/14/obama_calls_for_fundamental_criminal_justice_reforms_in_major_naacp_speech.html; Slate; 14 July 2015