There is a bill that has been introduced in congress on July 26, 2002 by Rep Mink.
It is "TO REVIVE THE SYSTEM OF PAROLE FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS"
It was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. On August 20, 2002 it was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
It notes that on July 29, 2002 -Introductory remarks on measure.

This would bring back parole for our loved ones in Federal Prison. I guess in other words it would knock out the Mandatoru Minimums. It could cut time to be served down to 1/3 to 2/3 the time! This to me is great news!

You can read this bill by going to http://thomas.loc.gov

in the little box, type bill number H.R. 5296

Another little po up menu bar will come up, click on full text.

We need to start writing to all our congressmen, senators, and even the President! We need to let them know we the people are in support of this bill! If we all send in a letter, mabey this time it will make the difference!

What are you veiws on this, I would love feedback!

Thank you!

Something has happen since you looked I guess. I got the following page when I searched for that bill.

The text of H.R. 5296 has not yet been received from GPO

B-Ray...Its there! Let's try this again!

http://thomas.loc.gov

in box that says BILL NUMBER type H.R. 5296 (enter)

On the next screen you will see a menu bar with 4 boxes,
the box all the way to the left says FULL DISPLAY (highlighted in blue) Click on that!

It will bring up the text.....Please try again!

Thank You! :p

This is promising - hopefully it won't get lost in committee somewhere.

Yes it is promissing! But we can't just let it go as that! We must stand tall and show our support all over!! And we all know in numbers, we have more strength!

You may want to post this on the PRUP Yahoo group. The woman who oversees the group might even be able to put together a sample letter, as she does for so many other bills. It can then be copied and pasted into the representatives e-mail and sent out that way. Just a suggestion. Will reach more people and with a sample letter, it is much easier to get people to participate. Hope this is of use to you.

http://******************/group/PRUP/

Thank you Anjel!

I will try posting something at that site also.
I am very excited about this and thought there were a few loved ones of federal inmates here. I beleive that starting with reaching out to these families will get more started from the beginning. If I can help to make people aware of this bill all over the united states then that is a start.
I just spoke to my loved one last night, he is in BEAUMONT TEXAS, the USP. He had heard about this a long time ago but no one he spoke to inbetween our calls last night was aware that this bill was back in conngress! We need to open these doors!
Sorry if I seem alittle over excited, but to me this is a big step for the future of the federal inmates!!!

Thank you for sharing that site!

Oh, I think I found the problem. I did what I did before, copied and pasted from your post (H.R. 5296) and got the same message, when I took the space out between the letters and numbers, and it worked.

copy and paste is so automatic with me, I do it without thinking. (don't have to write things down or remember) :-)

So B-Ray.....what do you think about this bill?? I am surprised I haven't had more feed back!

thanks! I will write my congressman, senator etc!!!! This would be wonderful. Any idea when we'll hear a result? If you could keep me posted I would really appreciate it!

Sorry, I don't have a comment as yet. I've been way to busy with other situations online to have checked it out. Maybe after work tomorrow night?

Thanks Diane for this valuable information. If this was approved, my son would be released immediately for deportation and this nightmare would be over. How many families would go back to a normal life ?

Being a foreigner I can't send petitions to US congressmen, but surely I would address any letter to the UN or any organization that may apply. For my son and thousands of people, I pray for this to be in effect soon.

Un abrazo,
Andrés

The following list are the members of the "subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security. Bill number H.R. 5296 has been referred to this subcommittee. I think we should flood these people with letters of support on this issue. If you could send a letter, it might benifit many of our loved ones in the federal system! Thank You!


Chairman: Mr. Lamar Smith (Texas)

Mark Green (Wisconsin) Howard Coble (North Carolina)
Bob Goodlatte (Virginia) Steve Chabot (Ohio)
Bob Barr (Georgia) Ric Keller (Florida)
Mike Pence (Indiana) Robert Scott (Virginia)
Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas) Martin Meehan (Mass.)
Bill Delahunt (Mass.) Adam Schiff (California)

Addresses:

Lamar Smith
San Antonio Office
Guaranty Bank Building
1100 NE Loop 410, Suite 640
San Antonio, TX 78209


Mark Green
700 E. Walnut Street
Green Bay, WI 54301

Howard Coble
Greensboro Office
Suite 100
330 South Greene Street
Greensboro, NC 27401

Bob Goodlatte
Staunton Office
114 North Central Avenue
Staunton, VA 24401

Steve Chabot
Cincinnati Office
3003 Carew Tower
441 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Bob Barr
Carrollton Office
207 Newnan Street, Suite A
Carrollton, GA 30117

Ric Keller
605 E. Robinson Street, Suite 650
Orlando, FL 32801

Mike Pence
1134 Meridian Plaza
Paramount Building
Anderson, IN 46016

Robert Scott
2600 Washington Avenue, Suite 1010
Newport News, VA 23607

Sheila Jackson Lee
1919 Smith Stret, Suite 1180
Houston, TX 77002

Martin Meehan
Walker Building
255 Main Street, Room 104
Marlborough, MA 01752

Bill Delahunt
Federal Building
166 Main Street
Brockton, MA 02301

Adam Schiff
Braley Building
35 South Raymond Ave, #205
Pasadena, CA 91105

And also this is the address of Rep Patsy Mink who introduced this bill.

Patsy T. Mink
5104 Prince Kuhio Federal Building
P.O. Box 50124
Honolulu, HI 96850

i sure hope so. feds make no since at times to me. well, none of it does, what can i say.

lulu

Thanks for bringing this to our attention! I have a lot of friends this will effect if the changes are made!

Dave,
Thanks for the reply! I was starting to worry that mabey no one was reading this! So I take it you did get a chance to read over it? Will you passing this along to others taht you know will support this? I ahve mailed out a letter to each one of the members on that list I posted along with members of congress here in Maryland. I have wrote to several other inmates that I have come to know through Bens time. I am trying my best to make somethign out of all this! I hope to encourage others along my journey!

Thank You!

Diane, thanks again. Would you please tell us how we can follow-up the process of this Bill, some Website or specialized info center ?

Un abrazo,
Andrés

Andres,
The only website I have found to have most information is http:/thomas.loc.gov
you have to enter the bill number in box H.R. 5296
then click on full display. They don't have anymore updates since August 20. Here is a pasted part of an email I received for a group who supports these issues ""There were hearings today involving
reentry initiatives and I received a call about an hour ago stating that our person had
been allowed to testify in support of parole among other things. Black Caucaus Day
is Friday so if you can mobilize anyone to head up on the hill that would be a terrific
chance to lobby for it."" So mabey soon we will get another update! I will be sure to post anything new about it and if I can be of farther assistance please feel free to ask!

Hi would anyone happern to know if the above named bill would also go for not only federal prisoners but for state as well please let me know

Mimi,
I believe this one is just concerning Federal Prisoners. But you might want to look into it. You never know what you may find! And its worth the try!

Oh my God, I've got everything crossed that this Bill will go through. I'm over here in Australia, I don't know if it would make any difference me lobbying the reps you listed. But I certainly will try. Maybe if we had a form letter on this site, then we could print it off and sign our names to it, and send it off. Inundate them with mail. I think we all need to do some serious praying that this Bill will be successful.

You know, I'm amazed that this thread hasn't got a red flashing light and a big sign saying "READ THIS"!!! This is what everyone has been waiting for! Now it's up to us to get busy sending lettters and lots of them at that, to the reps listed. If we sit on our hands and do nothing then we've only got ourselves to blame if it all comes to nothing. Lets say there are 1 million people in the Feds, if 3 letters were sent daily to the appropriate whoevers, thats 3 MILLION LETTERS A DAY!!!! They couldn't ignore that! I think we've all got a little apathetic and feel like we have'nt got a voice. Believe me, those reps are interested in being re-elected, they WILL listen to 3 million letters. But, we've got to do it now!

cobwebwoman! You got it right! I will be the first one to tell you that I am shocked I haven't had much of a response back!
The way I see things, we are all intitled to our own opinions-is that having a loved one in the federal system, we should be the first ones to speak up and FIGHT for something that will help us out!! If we remain quiet, in this oh so judging society, we will NEVER be heard!! Its the bills like this that I am starting to believe the reason they are never known of is because we fear what our neighbors might think! You do not need to stand out front of your house with a big sign saying, hey my husband is in federal prison! But since we all do visit and communitcate with others at some point of our time, we should share this with the others on our paths! That is a HUGE start to something like this! And yes, every letter will count but we do need MORE! I just hope that what is being sent will make a difference so this thing doesn't die! We NEED SUPPORT!!

I am continuing to follow this and do all I can as a person and a loved one of the Fed system! I will not go down with out a fight!

Diane, I have printed out copies of the bill and sent them to girls I know over there who's men are in the Feds. Come on Girls, our men need us to fight for them! They're inside,we're not, lets get this thing happening!!!

cobwebqueen,
I am trying to get a good group together, not like a group like PTO but basically a group of names and emails for like action alert things. I am looking to meet more people who are affected by the federal prison system. please feel free to pass my name along to others. i am working on a new email address that I hope to use primarily for these issues. this way I can be sure not to overlook anything!

I think that this thread should have been initiated at the forum FOCUS GROUPS / Legislation & Laws. There is a thread there, entitled "Feds to reduce 85% to 65%" where I posted a link to this thread. In that thread, a fellow member informs that a reliable source from Florida says that the reduction is a done deal. Other members advice that these things may take a very long time. But we all pray for a million of nigthmares to come to an end.

If you don't find the forum FOCUS GROUPS at the main list, look at the blue window below under the title "Forum Jump", click on the arrow and scroll the list.

Un abrazo,
Andrés

OK, now I have tried to get to this page your talking about and have not had any luck!

Can someone help or post a link to get there?

Let's see if this link works:

http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&forumid=71

Yep, it works. You may click on the above link to go direct to the forum and then click on the title Fed Time Served from 85% to 65% .

As this procedure will open another Windows Explorer for you, remember to close it after reading, otherwise you will end up with two W.Explorers open, and could get confused as to where you are.

I've also found that the main list, where all the forums are listed, is at the very first page of the site, i.e. Prison Talk Online >

Un abrazo,
Andrés

No good chances for this year, as informed by FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums). See their article at:

http://www.capwiz.com/famm/issues/alert/?alertid=471046

Chances may be better for the next year as they say. Anyway, let's support this proposal as much as we can.

Un abrazo,
Andrés

Andres,
I know there no good chances that by October 8 when the session ends that this will be passed! But WE NEED TO LET THEM KNOW WE WILL NOT LET THIS DIE!! :)

I was furious when I first was made aware of this issue. The first place I went was FAMM! I thought OK if I found the bill on a gov site, why the heck don't FAMM have something about it! I believe after myself and others bombarded FAMM, thats when something was posted! I am sure they don't want to give people false hope! But come on now, if we don'
t know about these issues, how can we support them???
I am glad FAMM has something, mabey it should read more on the edge of continue to show support even though it may not pass this session!

Thank you for making everyone aware of this bill. My fiance' called and told me that a copy of it was circulating in the federal faclity where he is housed.
I have already written all of my U.S. Representatives and Senators and will write to every person on the committe list that you were so kind to post for the rest of us.
We will not let the naysayers get us down, those of us who have loved ones in a federal institution will bombard them with letters and phone calls so they know this is not a mute point.
Cheryl in Louisiana

I am trying to build a data base of email address for those who are affected by the federal system. Since we don't have much time on this issue, mabey next time I will be ready and able to send a mass "ACTION ALERT" out! If you would like to be encluded on my list, please email me at


The more names I have, the louder it will be! I recently joined the Federal Chapter of CURE and I will do what I can to make a difference for all of our loved ones!

Thank you!

Way to go Cheryl!
May I ask which location your loved one is at?

Mine is in Beaumont, USP....and I want him closer! :(

Finally followed your suggestion and came over here to check things out. Thanks for pointing me here!!

You know that I'm with you on this Federal issue. Together we CAN make a difference!!

Ella

I am not sure if you already posted one here or at IOIC but do you have sample letters?

Ella I am glad ou found your way!!!

Amy,
yes, Ella did make up a letter when we first heard about it. We will get it to you!
Nice to see you too!