More than two decades after the “tough-on-crime” mantra became popular, state lawmakers, bludgeoned by budget crises, are readjusting the slogan to “smart on crime” instead. In the past few years, this new vision has created a wave of sentencing reform across the country.

According to a study conducted by Families Against Mandatory Minimums, 25 states have made some level of change in sentencing policy. Eighteen states have rolled back mandatory minimum sentences and other harsh penalties directed at nonviolent and drug offenders. Some examples of successful reform efforts over the last few years include:

• Michigan, a state once known for its harshness, repealed almost all of its mandatory minimum policies and gave discretionary sentencing back to its judges.
• Reforms in Ohio reduced the number of prisoners by 4,000 and closed a prison that cost the state $40 million.
• Texas redirected first-time drug offenders carrying less than one gram of narcotics from prison to drug treatment. Estimated savings: $30 million in two years.
• Mississippi restored parole for nonviolent first offenders.
• Colorado now offers a community-corrections alternative for those who commit technical parole violations.

Second Chance Act Passes House, Finally

After failing to muster enough support in 2005, the Second Chance Act, a federal bill aimed at creating and encouraging effective prisoner reentry initiatives, passed 347-62 in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 14. Both PFM President Mark Earley and Vice-President Pat Nolan testified before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security to encourage the passage of the bill, which received bi-partisan sponsorship in both the House and the Senate, from advocates such as Senators Joe Biden (D-Del.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Representatives Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Chris Cannon (R-Utah).

Second Chance allocates $165 million in grants to the federal, state, and local governments and nonprofits to create and improve substance-abuse treatment, employment, housing, and family programs. It also appropriates $15 million of this for faith-based and community mentoring programs, and encourages continued contact between federal prison mentors and prisoners after their release.

College Baseball Team Teams up with Prisoners

In September, 72 members of Central Methodist University’s baseball team went beyond perfecting batting averages; they become Prison Fellowship volunteers. As a part of the university’s character-building mission, the baseball team joined up with Prison Fellowship volunteers from Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church in Boonville, Missouri, to spend a week doing community service alongside 10 inmates from Boonville Correctional Center.

Twelve years ago, PF volunteer Tom Maxwell began the annual Community Service Project week, modeled after Chuck Colson’s Washington Discipleship Seminar. Since then a handful of selected prisoners from Boonville have been allowed out of prison every year to give back to the community.

Each day from September 10 to 15 began and ended with a joint time of fellowship, food, and prayer between the players and prisoners hosted by the Prison Fellowship volunteers at Nelson Memorial. Throughout the week, mixed groups of inmates and players built a new sidewalk and concrete containing basin at Boonville’s Harley Park Baseball Field, repainted the backstop of the field, and refurbished a handicap ramp.

The week concluded with a dedication service on Sunday, September 16, at Nelson Memorial, which signified the inmates’ completion of their required community service hours. At that time, the team presented each inmate with a CMU baseball T-shirt.

For the prisoners, the week was an opportunity to eliminate stereotypes as well as enjoy Christian fellowship.

"There's a lot of prejudice against us in Boonville, being a prison community, but it really changes people's hearts and minds seeing us out here. So it makes a big difference to the people, the way they look at us, the way they treat us here in Boonville, which is good for our work release program and things like that," inmate Robert Brown told a local news channel.

Maxwell agreed: "You can see it's changed our congregation, it's changed our community, it changed a bunch of baseball players’ ideas of what an inmate is like. So they get the idea that they will be accepted, and there will be something very special for them when they get home.”

The players didn’t walk away empty-handed either.