Sentencing Reform and Federal Prison News: January 2018

In January 2018, several federal sentencing and prison reform bills were waiting in Congress, and the U.S. Sentencing Commission was preparing to consider new guideline amendments. Some of their ideas ended up in the First Step Act at the end of that year.

Update (October 2026): This is a news post from January 2018. Later that year, Congress passed the First Step Act (Pub. L. 115-391), signed December 21, 2018. It combined prison reform with some sentencing changes drawn from bills listed below. For current federal sentencing rules, see the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

A week into 2018, there was plenty of buzz about what the year would bring from the courts, Congress, and the Sentencing Commission. Here were the highlights.

Bills Pending in Congress

Several bills were pending, but none had reached a full vote. Any bill not signed into law by the end of the session would "die" and have to be introduced again in 2019.

These were the top bills the original post was watching for possible passage in 2018:

• H.R. 3356: Prison Reform and Redemption Act
  Sponsor: Rep. Doug Collins [R-GA9]
  Introduced - Jul 24, 2017
• S. 1933: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2017
  Sponsor: Sen. Mike Lee [R-UT]
  Introduced - Oct 5, 2017
• S. 842: Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2017
  Sponsor: Sen. Cory Booker [D-NJ]
  Introduced - Apr 5, 2017
  Ordered Reported - May 17, 2017
• H.R. 4261: SAFE Justice Act
  Sponsor: Rep. Robert "Bobby" Scott [D-VA3]
  Introduced - Nov 6, 2017
• H.R. 2899: Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 2017
  Sponsor: Rep. James Sensenbrenner [R-WI5]
  Introduced - Jun 13, 2017
• S. 1994: CORRECTIONS Act
  Sponsor: Sen. John Cornyn [R-TX]
  Introduced - Oct 19, 2017
• S. 1917: Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017
  Sponsor: Sen. Charles "Chuck" Grassley [R-IA]
  Introduced - Oct 4, 2017

The Sentencing Commission's January Meeting

The Sentencing Commission had received a flood of letters, over 80,000 according to the original post, supporting a proposal to lower the whole Sentencing Table (the chart that sets Guidelines ranges) by two levels. That change would have ended ranges of "life to life." The Commission did not adopt it.

The Commission met at 10:30 AM on Friday, January 19, 2018, in Washington, DC. According to its announcement, the agenda was:

Vote to Adopt August 2017 Meeting Minutes
Report from the Chair
Possible Vote to Publish Proposed Guideline Amendments and Issues for Comment

The Commission was also considering other possible Guideline amendments.

The Supreme Court

Several Supreme Court decisions affecting federal sentencing were expected later in the term.

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