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The BREATHE Act: ‘Defund’ Failed So Progressives Float Emptying Federal Prisons.

The Controversial Proposal Calls for ‘Complete Decarceration’ Over Next 10 Years.


Photo for: The BREATHE Act: ‘Defund’ Failed So Progressives Float Emptying Federal Prisons.

Key Points

  • Defund the Police was a huge failure – now progressives want to empty prisons.
  • The BREATHE Act calls for ‘complete decarceration’ in federal prisons over the next 10 years.
  • Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) supports the act.

Let’s start by acknowledging the colossal failure of Defund the Police.

According to FBI statistics, murders skyrocketed by 30 percent in 2020. Violent crimes spiked in most major American cities as Democrat-run legislatures tripped over themselves to please the progressive Twitter mob, gutting police forces in the process.

And all the while, only 18% of Americans supported the controversial movement. Even Biden recognized it was poisonous and made a point to vocalize his opposition to the idea. “Defund” and “abolish” policies, by and large, crashed and burned. We are now back to funding as usual.

But House progressives like squad member Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) can’t get past the idea that policing in the United States is “inherently and intentionally racist.” So the obvious solution is to empty our federal prisons. No, seriously – that’s what she wants to do.

Here’s a recent exchange between congresswoman Tlaib and Axios’ Jonathan Swan.

SWAN: In 2020, you endorsed the BREATHE Act, which is a series of proposals to transform America’s criminal justice system and create, quote, ‘a roadmap for prison abolition.’ The BREATHE Act proposes emptying federal detention facilities within 10 years. To what extent have you wrestled with any potential downsides of releasing into society every single person who’s currently in a federal prison?

TLAIB: I think everyone’s like, oh my god, we’re going to just release everybody.

SWAN: But that’s what the act says.

TLAIB: Yeah, but did you see how many people are mentally ill that are in prison right now?

If it’s not 100%, then we should probably keep the prisons open. We’re also left to wonder if Rep. Tlaib actually knows what’s in the BREATHE Act.

The White House is already distancing itself from this disaster. “Let me be absolutely clear: The president does not support abolishing prisons,” Jen Psaki told Fox News’ Peter Doocy. “He thinks measures like that will make us less safe and he would not support legislation that includes it.”

Gina Clayton-Johnson, one of the architects of the BREATHE Act, says “I am fighting for a world in which we can make policing obsolete. And I believe that that is possible. And I know that it will take maybe years to get there.”

Clayton-Johnson is also fighting for climate equity; abolishing ICE and the DEA; drastically reducing the DOD’s budget; and giving incarcerated criminals the right to vote.

BREATHE won’t have a chance to crash and burn like Defund – it won’t even get off the ground.