Amy Povah Wants to Fix Our Out-of-Control Prison System

Amy Ralston Povah served nine years in prison before President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence. Though she had no active involvement of any kind in her ex-husband’s drug activities, the conspiracy laws were so broad that all of his crimes were imputed to her as well. She is now one of the most knowledgeable and effective advocates for executive clemency, and for sensible reform of the criminal justice reform. Her group, CAN-DO recommends candidates for clemency (sentence reduction), including Alice Johnson, whose sentence was commuted following Kim Kardashian West’s meeting with President Donald Trump. In an interview, she talked about the impact of the drug wars’ mandatory sentences and her priorities for change.

Do we send too many people to prison?

Stats speak volumes — we make up only 5 percent of the world’s population but incarcerate almost one quarter of the prison population — this is an ALARM BELL to the world that has gone unheeded.

The United States population was 319 million as of July 4, 2014, according to the U.S. Census. That accounts for about 4.4 percent of the approximately 7.1 billion world population, which confirms the first part of this claim.

The second part comes from the World Prison Population List, published by the U.K.-based International…