Remarks by President Trump at FIRST STEP Act Roundtable with Governor Bryant and Law Enforcement Leaders | Eastern North Carolina Now

    COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you. I appreciate it.

    THE PRESIDENT: Beautiful job. Really beautiful job.

    COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Phil, how about you saying a couple of words?

    GOVERNOR BRYANT: I do know you've heard me, and Pelicia, who did such a good job - Commissioner Hall.

    But these ladies here have a very special - you've got a prosecutor and a Miss Mississippi. And that's really an example, along with corrections and law enforcement, of who would support this bill.

    So maybe we could hear from a tough District Attorney. And, Angel, if you'll talk a little bit about the - from a prosecutorial side.

    MS. MCILRATH: Yes, sir. Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

    MS. MCILRATH: Mr. President, as prosecutors, we basically have two categories of offenders we deal with. We've got the violent, habitual major drug-traffickers that need to be in prison to protect society, but then we've got this category of people who are low risk and who can be rehabilitated.

    And so, criminal justice reform in Mississippi is working. What they did for us is they left intact our ability to deal with these dangerous offenders and keep them in prison, but opened the door for more people to be eligible for alternative sentencing, like the recidivism reduction program in MDOC, or our drug courts. Our drug courts are a Mississippi success story.

    And so those are things that are important to prosecutors. I can tell you that it's working here, and I believe that your Act is going to work as well.

    THE PRESIDENT: That's fantastic.

    GOVERNOR BRYANT: As you can probably tell, she's pretty special young lady.

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    GOVERNOR BRYANT: She's had a few challenges in life, but her platform as Miss Mississippi is to take on this corrections reform. And we love her to death, and we're so very proud of her.

    MS. BRANCH: (Inaudible) me to speak.

    I do a lot and I've seen a lot. And I am very fond of this bill because I see the impact that it can have. And the most important thing when it comes to inmates is reintegrating them into society and then being successful and reducing the recidivism rate, which is incredible. And so I think this will be very beneficial, honestly. You see the amount of people that get arrested and then end up right back in there. But if they are able to attain a job and be productive citizens -

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    MS. BRANCH: - then there's hope and a future. And then, of course, public safety. People aren't as threatened by people who are being productive citizens and, you know, helping society.

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's really good. Thank you very much, both. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

    Phil?

    GOVERNOR BRYANT: Ron Matis chairs the Governor's faith-based initiative and has done such a great job working with churches and synagogues, and all of those faith-based organizations. And, Ron, we'll let you talk in just a moment about our faith-based effort in the prisons.

    MR. MATIS: Yes, sir. Thank you, Governor and Mr. President, and Mr. Vice President.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

    MR. MATIS: I was excited to come here tonight because I think that the faith community is one of the most natural partners in addressing this issue.

    As I've traveled the state, after the Governor pioneered to founding a faith advisory council in Mississippi, I found a lot of churches who were involved in this process and were wanting more tools to be able to help these folks who are, frankly, getting out of the system and not knowing exactly how to become productive members of society.

    In some ways, the system created a glass wall where they could see what productive citizens are, and yet they couldn't fully participate because they don't have a place to live or they don't have proper ID, or some of these just, kind of, basic things that go into being productive citizens.

    So, you know, Governor Bryant, we joined in the last legislative session in working towards passing criminal justice reform, working on some sentencing, some of the things that you've mentioned. And we're really just excited to take the next step. As reviewing the FIRST STEP Act, it does make many of those - does take many of those steps.

    So I just think the faith community is ready and willing and able. And it's a wonderful opportunity to serve, kind of, as a bridge from government in the Department of Corrections to the faith community, who really has a passion for this. Nothing could be more central to the gospel than helping those being restored and being - finding a place in society that's productive.

    So, you know, we've got a great team. We've got a rabbi, we've got a members from the Baptist faith, from the Catholic faith, from the Pentecostal faith. Because at the end of the day, we're all in this to serve and to find a solution so that Mississippi is a better place for all of its citizens.

    So I'm excited to be here because I see both the state leadership and the federal leadership pointing in that direction. So thank you for your leadership, Governor. Thank you for the opportunity.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. I appreciate it very much.

    GOVERNOR BRYANT: Marshall Fisher is our Commissioner of Department of Public Safety, a Navy veteran; spent most of his career in the Drug Enforcement Administration working for the federal government. I was able to not only bring him on managing the Department of Corrections, but talked him into being Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. He's a lifelong law enforcement officer. One of the best I know.

    Commissioner, I'm going to turn to you for comments.

    COMMISSIONER FISHER: Thank you, Governor. Mr. President, thank you for being here, and thank you for including law enforcement in this important conversation. Being a 40-plus- year law enforcement man, we're hard-headed sometimes, we're hard to get to the table. And -

    GOVERNOR BRYANT: I told him that. (Laughter.)

    COMMISSIONER FISHER: But it is important. We, in Mississippi, as you can see, we work as a team. And our most important asset here is coordination and collaboration. And I'm an old dinosaur that didn't think the way I think now. We realize now in law enforcement, we can't arrest our way out of these situations. We realize there are people that need to be in prison.

    But for the most part, there a lot of people out there that we can put back on the street with investment in transitional housing, with investment in alcohol and drug treatment, drug courts, mental health courts. And these are things that guys like me didn't believe in years ago. But now we do. I'm telling you, we do believe in this. It's important. And we do have a team here. It's a collaborative effort. The Department of Corrections Commissioner and I talk on a weekly basis, if not biweekly.

    Thank you. Thank you for what you're doing.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. That's very well said.

    COMMISSIONER FISHER: Thank you for what you're doing.

    THE PRESIDENT: So you're now a believer. You wouldn't have been a believer 10 years ago, maybe. Right?

    COMMISSIONER FISHER: I wouldn't have been a believer five years ago.

    THE PRESIDENT: That's fantastic. So what changed your mind?

    COMMISSIONER FISHER: The Governor asked me to come back into state service, and I ran the Department of Corrections - or maybe it ran me for a couple of years. (Laughter.) And I have a unique perspective. I'm a retired DEA agent; I was a police officer before that. I've been able to see things from different sides. And it was a wakeup call for me. And I'm blessed that I had that opportunity.

    THE PRESIDENT: It's very nice to know. Really is. Very nice to know. Thank you very much.

    COMMISSIONER FISHER: Yes, sir.

    GOVERNOR BRYANT: Finally, our Lincoln County Sheriff, Sheriff Rushing, is now president of the Sherriff's Association. And you know how I feel about the sheriffs. My first real job was working for a sheriff.

    So, Sherriff, we'll turn to you for comments. Thank you for being here.

    SHERIFF RUSHING: Thank you all for having me. Mr. President, thank you for having me. As Senator Cindy Hyde said, I'm her sheriff. I've been sheriff about 12 years now, and I'm president of our association.

    This Act really does not affect us on the local level, but we do see the benefit in what it can become. Like everybody spoke tonight - the Commissioner said it best that, you know, 10 years ago, I wouldn't have told you that no way in the world I would have been at this table discussing this.

    But we see the benefit in some of these programs. Drug court has been a great program for our area helping people. Guys that we see on the street in our daily lives that we would have never thought would have been straight (inaudible). I see them every week come in in drug court, and he's out being a productive citizen. So we're honored. This is a great honor for being here, especially with the way you've supported law enforcement. We can't speak highly enough of the feeling knowing we got somebody supporting us.

    And at the same time, we're here to work together. I understand our national association had a couple issues here and there, but we're here to work any way we can with the federal, state, and local officials to better our communities, because that's our job as sheriff is to serve and protect our community. That's our first priority.

    But I'm honored to be here. And thank you for -

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Sheriff.

    SHERIFF RUSHING: - and thank you all for being here.

    THE PRESIDENT: Appreciate it very much. Thank you very much.

    SHERIFF RUSHING: Yes, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Roger, would you say a few words, please?

    SENATOR WICKER: Well, this is all very compelling. And I would also say that when it comes to the bill, I had a very fine conversation with Chairman Chuck Grassley today, who is very actively supporting this and has moved the ball down the field for a couple of years now. It's not hard - it's not easy to get a bill passed by both Houses and signed into law. He feels like he's very close.

    I would also - I would also mention that I come from a background of my dad being circuit court judge. The criminal trial court of highest jurisdiction in the state of Mississippi. And I remember a day when judges had more leeway to work with convicted persons, people who had pled guilty, to size them up as to their ability for rehabilitation in a quicker way.