FIRST STEP ACT
Craig Deroche, vice president of advocacy and public policy at Prison Fellowship, addresses President Trump at the bill signing (Photo courtesy of the White House).
Craig Deroche, vice president of advocacy and public policy at Prison Fellowship, addresses President Trump at the bill signing (Photo courtesy of the White House).
Landmark Federal Legislation Brings Hope to Thousands
The United States’ federal prison system is in desperate need of reform.
More than 40,000 federal prisoners are released each year in America. Nearly half of those will be rearrested within three years. Overcrowded prisons, disproportionate sentencing, and a lack of good rehabilitative sentencing have created a revolving door that affects communities across the nation.
On December 21, 2018, our country took a big step toward addressing those issues when President Trump signed the FIRST STEP Act—the most restorative federal criminal justice reform in a generation.
The FIRST STEP Act, championed by Prison Fellowship® and a broad bipartisan coalition, aims to help transform lives and protect American communities. It better prepares men and women to become productive citizens and expands their access to programming designed to reduce the likelihood that they return to prison.
40,000 federal prisoners are released each year in the U.S.
Participation in in-prison educational or vocational programs, like those expanded by the FIRST STEP Act, reduces a person’s risk of returning to prison by 48%.
180,000 men and women are in federal prison right now.

"We all just rejoiced because that FIRST STEP Act was the first piece of major legislation in over three decades."
— Matthew Charles, one of the first people released from prison under the FIRST STEP Act
This bill came at a unique moment of consensus on the critical need for criminal justice reform, and your support enabled Prison Fellowship’s advocacy team to work tirelessly in the halls of Congress, in the press, and at the grassroots level to see it pass. The overwhelming bipartisan vote on the FIRST STEP Act has paved the way for future values-based reforms, and our team is continuing to press federal authorities for the law’s full implementation. And because of you, thousands of families have greater hope for themselves and their incarcerated loved ones.
Prison Fellowship also helped to advance significant criminal justice reforms at the state level, including the restoration of voting rights for more than a million citizens with a criminal record in Florida and the removal of barriers to employment in Texas. Your support is helping to change unjust laws and make transformation possible.