DeSantis hits Trump on First Step Act: ‘Basically a jailbreak bill’
BLUFFTON, South Carolina (FLV) – If elected president, Gov. Ron DeSantis stated last week that he intends to pursue the repeal of the First Step Act, a significant criminal justice reform bill signed into law by former President Donald Trump in 2018.
The law broadened the scope of reentry and job training initiatives for federal inmates, prohibited the shackling of pregnant prisoners, and emphasized the preference for housing incarcerated individuals within a 500-mile proximity to their families, when feasible.
Additionally, the legislation introduced four modifications to federal sentencing laws, leading to the reduction of certain mandatory minimum sentences.
Passed by Congress in 2018, the legislation received broad support from lawmakers across the political spectrum, making it one of the most far-reaching criminal justice reform bills in recent memory.
DeSantis, in an interview with the Daily Wire, called the legislation a “jailbreak bill” and vowed to repeal it.
“Under the Trump administration—he enacted a bill, basically a jailbreak bill, it’s called the First Step Act. It has allowed dangerous people out of prison who have now re-offended, and really, really hurt a number of people,” DeSantis said.
Following the governor’s comments, former Republican Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, author of the House version of the First Step Act, highlighted then Congressman DeSantis’s support for an earlier version of the legislation.
“The program is reducing recidivism rates across the countries, which is making our communities safer and bolstering our economy with more people in the workforce,” Collins said. “I’m proud to have been part of its design and passage, alongside the vast majority of Republicans in both chambers that included then-Congressman Ron DeSantis”
Former president Trump, at the time of its passage called the bill a “great bipartisan achievement for everybody.”
“This will keep our communities safer, and provide hope and a second chance, to those who earn it. In addition to everything else, billions of dollars will be saved,” Trump tweeted.
