DeSantis takes aim at Trump's judicial reform: "Jailbreak bill"

“Our whole Nation benefits if former inmates are able to reenter society as productive, law-abiding citizens,” Donald Trump assured in 2018, as he called on Congress to pass his bipartisan criminal justice reform, dubbed the First Step Act. The legislation was paraded on Capitol Hill and passed both houses.

Five years later, with the backdrop of a spicy Republican primary, the former president’s challengers are looking to attack his record in the White House, and they started with the law mentioned above. One of them was Ron DeSantis, precisely the strongest candidate (according to polls) to challenge Trump for the title of the Republican nominee for president in 2024.

The governor of Florida described the First Step Act as a “jailbreak bill “and assured that “it has allowed dangerous people who have reoffended and really, really hurt a number of people” to be released. “So one of the things I want to do when I’m president is go to Congress and seek the repeal of the First Step Act,” he added. In addition, his social media teams have already begun to publish posts expressly criticizing the legislation.

Another, perhaps a bit more surprising critic: Mike Pence. The former vice president was instrumental in passing the bill in 2018, as he was one of the central figures in negotiations with the most skeptical Republicans in Congress. However, during one of his first campaign events, he acknowledged that the law must be “rethought.”

Asa Hutchinson did not want to be left out either and took the opportunity to recommend some modifications that could be implemented. He had initially praised the project but recently changed his mind.

What is the First Step Act?

It passed in late 2018 thanks to broad bipartisan support in both chambers and Donald Trump considers it one of his most significant legislative achievements.

The Act made several changes to the criminal justice system to address over-incarceration, prioritizing rehabilitation and reducing recidivism. In particular, it implemented sentencing reforms (shortening their duration in some cases, providing exceptions and adding “safety valves” for judges to issue sentences lower than the minimum), as well as penitentiary reforms(improving conditions in federal prisons by curbing “inhumane” conditions and reorienting those prisons around rehabilitation rather than punishment).

As stated by Trump during the 2019 State of the Union, the text “reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African American community. It gives non-violent offenders the chance to reenter society as productive law-abiding citizens.”