AUSTIN, Texas -- The senate passes a massive criminal justice reform bill Tuesday night

  • Senate passes First Step Act
  • Bil is first-step in massive criminal justice reform
  • It now heads to the house

The First Step Act is a White House-backed effort that is sailing through Congress with Bipartisan support. The goal of the act is to make sure those inmates don’t go back to prison.

"We're investing in the men and women that want to turn their lives around once they're released from prisons," Sen. John Cornyn said.  

The bill was modeled after programs that have been proven to work in Texas. Cornyn said it started as a way to cut down on prison overcrowding in Texas, and it turned out to be a successful way to reduce crime.

"Using recidivism reduction programs including job training and vocational education, we reduced our incarceration rate and our crime rate by double digits at the same time," Cornyn said.  

Sam Sheetz with American for Prosperity said it's time for Texas' example to be taken to a national level.

"It has the potential to be the biggest criminal justice reform that we've seen in the last 30-something year," Sheetz said.  

The bill reduces minimum sentences nationwide, offer inmates programs for addiction, learning disabilities and vocational training, and it offers inmates the opportunity to earn credits to shorten their time behind bars.

Molly Gill with the Washington DC-based organization Families Against Mandatory Minimums said the bill would shrink the prison population.

"Your prison costs go down, you close prisons eventually and you have all of this money that you can actually reinvest into your justice system," she said.  

According to Sheetz, since 2007, a handful of federal prisons have closed in Texas.

"If that's not a symptom of success, you know, that we don't need as many prisons anymore, we're clearly doing something right," Sheetz said.

Senator Cornyn said the First Step Act is aptly named, as it will be the first of many bills toward an overhaul of the system.

"We hope to allow people to transform their lives as we allow low risk offenders to lead productive lives in their communities once they leave prison," Cornyn said.

There would be 48 crimes that would disqualify inmates from earning time credits under the First Step Act including murder and assault. The bill is now headed to the House of Representatives.