Loretta Lynch’s smart move to give IDs to exiting inmates

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in a gutsy decision, is engaging states in helping prisoners with the transition to society. One important suggestion: to let prisoners exchange their prisoner identification cards for state-issued IDs. It sounds like a small thing. It’s not.

Without a valid, readily accepted ID, former prisoners aren’t really free. Absent that identification, they can’t rent apartments, get jobs, open bank accounts, get credit, be admitted to college. So states would be acting in their own self-interest to provide IDs. They would be easing the path to good citizenship for those leaving prison.

Lynch also is guiding the Justice Department toward rethinking harsh, long sentences for nonviolent crimes and drug crimes. Many of those sentences came about during the 1980s and thereafter, driven by politicians who wanted to be seen as “tough on crime.” There’s nothing wrong with that in principle, and drugs are a major factor in many crimes – but putting people away who were not major dealers or “kingpins” or involved in violent crimes connected to drug dealing has filled prisons with individuals who are not much of a threat to others.

Read more: The News&Observer