Roughly 3,100 federal prison inmates will soon be released, the Department of Justice announced Friday, as part of implementation of federal criminal justice reform enacted into law last year. 
There are millions of people in America today with a criminal record, yet government statistics shed almost no light on their lives and experiences, an expert demographer argued in a Congressional hearing Wednesday. 
The share of the adult population in prison has fallen to its lowest point since 1997, a new report released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows. 
The Senate passed a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill known as the First Step Act on Tuesday by a vote of 87-12. 
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) defended his proposed amendments to the crime reform bill known as the First Step Act on Tuesday. Cotton proposed the amendments along with Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.). 
The Senate voted Monday night to advance the FIRST STEP Act, setting up what is likely to be a contentious fight over a number of proposed amendments before a final vote later this week. 
A representative of the Church of Scientology is among 20 signatories to a letter released Monday calling on President Donald Trump to reject changes to the FIRST STEP Act, the criminal justice bill currently pending in the Senate. 