Political Quotes

“One of the significant problems we have--and I agree with him--is the problem of people who are getting out of prison at the State and local levels before they should. The problem, though, I think, is in large measure stemming from Washington and needs to be addressed. I invite the Senator from North Dakota to join me in some legislation on which we have had hearings before the Judiciary Committee. A number of other States have been similarly affected. It turns out that Federal rules and regulations under the CRIPA legislation, as well as Federal court orders, are actually forcing people out of prisons prematurely. In my State, we entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice back in the 1980's with respect to conditions in Michigan prisons. By 1992, we had an agreement with the Department of Justice that we had satisfied the problems that had caused this consent decree to be entered into. The Federal judge who had jurisdiction, nonetheless, even after the Department of Justice was willing to allow the consent decree to be removed, maintained continuing jurisdiction and is forcing people out of our State prisons prematurely.”