Shorten Mandatory Minimums and Defend the First Step Act

Mandatory minimums helped make the U.S.

A letter to your members of Congress. Facts checked September 24, 2026.

The explainer behind this letter Mass Incarceration Why the US incarcerates at the highest rate of any democracy

The Letter

Subject Shorten Mandatory Minimums and Defend the First Step Act

The United States locks up more of its people than any other democracy, nearly 2 million on a given day. We did not get here because of a crime wave. Congress passed mandatory minimum sentences that took the decision away from judges, and Black defendants paid the steepest price.

Reform works when we try it. The prison population fell 22% from its 2008 peak, and states like New York cut their prison populations while crime fell faster than the national average. The 2018 First Step Act passed with both parties and shortened some federal minimums.

That progress has stopped. Prisons grew again in 2023, and the Supreme Court has limited who can use the law's early-release provisions.

Please support legislation that shortens federal mandatory minimum sentences and makes the change retroactive for people already serving them.

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Call Your Representative

U.S. Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121

I'm a constituent calling to ask the member to support shortening federal mandatory minimum sentences, with relief for people already serving them.
The U.S. locks up nearly 2 million people, more per capita than any other democracy.
The prison population fell 22% from 2008 to 2023, and states that cut the most, like New York, saw crime fall faster than the national drop.
Please support sentencing reform that makes shorter minimums retroactive.

Calls get logged by topic. Volume drives the briefing.

The Facts Behind the Ask

Nearly 2 million People locked up in U.S. prisons, jails, and detention on a given day (source)
465,000 People held before trial, not convicted of the charge that holds them (source)
22% Drop in the state and federal prison population from the 2008 peak to 2023 (source)
2% Growth in the prison population in 2023, with increases in 39 states (source)

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