Inaugural Promises Pt. 2, by Caddell Kivett
When we sent out calls for incarcerated people to submit work for Prison Reimagined: Presidential Portrait Project, we asked participants to consider the records of every American president. We had no idea what works we might receive. When the submissions began to arrive in mid-2023, the foreshadowing of a Biden-Trump rematch was undeniable.
The election cycle was so contentious, it was obvious to the team at Prison Reimagined that PRP3 must continue to show in 2025.
At the time of this writing, Trump is a two short weeks into his second term, and our country is more divided than ever. Fear for the state of our democracy, and not-so-subtle reminders about how Americans must endure were inauguration day talking points from the left. The term, "peaceful transfer of power," is no longer a widely-expected afterthought.
PRP3 showcases no less than six portraits of President Trump, but none portray the complexity of his many facets — both positive and negative — than Brian Hindson's "Mr. Trump and the First Step Act."
"As controversial, polarizing and divisive as Trump can be, he's the only president that did something that benefitted every federal inmate," Hindson said. "The style I picked [for my painting] was my fractured art. All the pieces make him up. All the bad stuff too...all the pieces make a whole."
In December 2018 President Trump signed the First Step Act (FSA) into law. The FSA brought relief to thousands of federal prisoners, about 1400 in the first year and more than 4000 by January 2024. And while this is an important first measure, the FSA is limited in scope, helping primarily those federal prisoners with low-level D rug cases and related excessive sentences.
Bipartisan support for this bill came only after years of grassroots organizing and unrelenting groundwork. Dozens of citizens, advocates and lawmakers worked tirelessly to garner support for this bill, including Van Jones, CNN commentator and cofounder of Cut50, a bipartisan criminal justice reform organization.
Trump was slow to commit to the legislation. But he agreed to sign the bill into law after persistent urging from Jones, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and eventually Kim Kardashian, among others. Kardashian's late influence was instrumental in securing Trump's commitment.
The documentary, "The First Step" (Meridian Hill Pictures, 2021) follows Jones as he travels the country, from the legislative halls of Washington, to West Virginia and California, seeking support for the FSA. This film is a powerful record that details the arduous process of advancing reform legislation from both a ground-level and a power-strucure perspective. Prison Reimagined screens this important documentary, free at PRP3 events.
Trump's signing of the FSA marks a small victory in the pursuit of sentencing reform and increased reentry support. But this law falls short in many ways.
The FSA only applies to those serving time in federal prison — about 147,000 people — less than half of which are serving sentences for a Drug conviction (Prison Policy Initiative, The Whole Pie, 2024). If this law applied equally to everyone in federal prison (it doesn't), that would only be about 8.5% of the people behind bars in the U.S. To truly address mass incarceration, we'll need policy change in the 50-plus state-level justice systems across the nation, and we'll have to reconsider excessive sentencing for all crimes, including those labeled "violent."
Meaningful change takes time and legislative action is a slow grind. We didn't arrive at mass incarceration overnight, and we won't dismantle the system in a single day, or a single year. Reaching our goals: relief for excessive sentencing, mass DE-carceration, prison abolition — these are long-game proposals and require long-game effort.
The election cycle was so contentious, it was obvious to the team at Prison Reimagined that PRP3 must continue to show in 2025.
At the time of this writing, Trump is a two short weeks into his second term, and our country is more divided than ever. Fear for the state of our democracy, and not-so-subtle reminders about how Americans must endure were inauguration day talking points from the left. The term, "peaceful transfer of power," is no longer a widely-expected afterthought.
"Mr. Trump and the First Step Act" (Hindson, 2023)
Artist Brian Hindson has spent more than 15 years in federal prison.
PRP3 showcases no less than six portraits of President Trump, but none portray the complexity of his many facets — both positive and negative — than Brian Hindson's "Mr. Trump and the First Step Act."
"As controversial, polarizing and divisive as Trump can be, he's the only president that did something that benefitted every federal inmate," Hindson said. "The style I picked [for my painting] was my fractured art. All the pieces make him up. All the bad stuff too...all the pieces make a whole."
In December 2018 President Trump signed the First Step Act (FSA) into law. The FSA brought relief to thousands of federal prisoners, about 1400 in the first year and more than 4000 by January 2024. And while this is an important first measure, the FSA is limited in scope, helping primarily those federal prisoners with low-level D rug cases and related excessive sentences.
Bipartisan support for this bill came only after years of grassroots organizing and unrelenting groundwork. Dozens of citizens, advocates and lawmakers worked tirelessly to garner support for this bill, including Van Jones, CNN commentator and cofounder of Cut50, a bipartisan criminal justice reform organization.
Trump was slow to commit to the legislation. But he agreed to sign the bill into law after persistent urging from Jones, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and eventually Kim Kardashian, among others. Kardashian's late influence was instrumental in securing Trump's commitment.
The documentary, "The First Step" (Meridian Hill Pictures, 2021) follows Jones as he travels the country, from the legislative halls of Washington, to West Virginia and California, seeking support for the FSA. This film is a powerful record that details the arduous process of advancing reform legislation from both a ground-level and a power-strucure perspective. Prison Reimagined screens this important documentary, free at PRP3 events.
Trump's signing of the FSA marks a small victory in the pursuit of sentencing reform and increased reentry support. But this law falls short in many ways.
The FSA only applies to those serving time in federal prison — about 147,000 people — less than half of which are serving sentences for a Drug conviction (Prison Policy Initiative, The Whole Pie, 2024). If this law applied equally to everyone in federal prison (it doesn't), that would only be about 8.5% of the people behind bars in the U.S. To truly address mass incarceration, we'll need policy change in the 50-plus state-level justice systems across the nation, and we'll have to reconsider excessive sentencing for all crimes, including those labeled "violent."
Meaningful change takes time and legislative action is a slow grind. We didn't arrive at mass incarceration overnight, and we won't dismantle the system in a single day, or a single year. Reaching our goals: relief for excessive sentencing, mass DE-carceration, prison abolition — these are long-game proposals and require long-game effort.
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