Turf War Between Kushner and Sessions Drove Federal Prisons Director to Quit

This Trump GOP came into power to bust all the myths we grew up with about American greatness. The only one that turns out to be true is that anyone can grow up to be president. American was only ever great for a very select few in society but that was incrementally changing over the decades, accellerating after WWII. Making America great again means going back to controlling people through the plantation system that kept the order. Prisons are now the plantations. Jeff Sessions’ lifelong ambition is to return to the past and set himself up as Master. Declaring the modern practice of Asylum at the border illegal makes it easier for him to experience separating brown skined parents from their brown skinned children. Will the migrant children need to be sold off before this Trump GOP finds some version of their collective conscience and makes this nightmare stop? Surely there is a line that even they are unwilling to cross.

Kushner is from a criminal family working in a criminal administration. Army officers like Inch and McMaster have personal integrity and are duty bound to bail.

The one who should quit is Sessions. So now we're going to have teachers who are also corrections officers and soon part of the posse carrying guns. Is there any time left to teach ?

Sessions is just continuing the Jim Crow approach used in the South to manage “undesirables.” Since much of the prison population is black or brown don’t expect any changes in sentencing. He’s got them right where he wants them. Notice too the termination of contracts with those agencies running halfway house programs. And more private prisons. Sessions intends to expand the use of incarceration to manage society. Rehabilitation is just talk.

Mr. Inch is well rid of a job that essentially gelded him into the role of powerless non-functioning functionary caught between the egotism of incompetents. The only more miserable job imaginable would be to head up the US Postal Service. Meanwhile the gears of governance remained gummed-up with sand in their grease.

What a nest of vipers is this White House. Kurshner knows absolutely zero about the complexities of the federal prison system, except the visiting day schedule for his father a few years back. Sessions is a neo-nazi who just likes to be as mean as possible to anyone. Their boss is a messianic lunatic who could care less about offenders except insofar as reducing the prison budget would help him give back money to his rich friends. History will not be kind to this crowd.

I have read the comments about Jared Kushner not being qualified for giving advice on the Corrections system with which he has had no experience at all, but I also question the qualifications of General Inch, a retired Army general, for the position as well.

Prison reform has not ever been on the to-do-list of the US politicians. It is another disgraceful situation that places the country on the same level as Banana Republics. We've been there for some decades, with out heads in the sand. Mr. Kushner does not have the necessary expertise to lead such a task, nor the understanding of the problems facing those who are victims of an unfair system. Needless to say, he 's not going to get any assistance from any of Trump's team - nor the Congress. Status quo folks

There is no "war." Using words like war for an ordinary policy dispute sensationalizes the common place operation of government. There's always conflict, give and take, argument, and personnel moves. That Mr. Inch resigned, or was marginalized, is not momentous, or necessarily a loss. That Mr. Kushner has new ideas and is pushing them is a good thing - that's why is there - to push something new, to innovate, to make progress. What "department norms?" Maybe BOP's department norms are a problem. Prison operations, from county jails to state DOC's to BOP, don't like anyone telling them what to do, and that is the biggest problem of all.

As long as Sessions is in charge, this nation will be in the Dark Ages. There is no other way to express it but to say the man is a complete fool. It is absurd, it is irresponsible, it is immoral that this nation cannot reduce crime by helping the criminals overcome incredible odds to become positive, participating members of society. Maximum sentences, the death penalty, horrible sentences for minor drug offenses, criminal forfeiture, can only be supported by racist, stupid people.

"...sentencing reform, which the attorney general and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, both adamantly oppose." It seems a lot of things won't change (for the better) until Senator McConnell is gone.

I didn't know Jared had prisons on his mind. Though I really don't blame him.

all of this winning is just exhausting.

Prison reform is desperately needed. It's too bad such a rank amateur is "leading" the charge against the bedrock racism of Sessions

will the last person leave the administration please turn off the lights.

"Prison reform, it's an amazing thing'" Such eloquence from our wordsmith president.

Until Sessions is disposed of for good, any system he is involved in will only move backwards.

Ironically, prison reform is the only policy issue of the many that have been assigned to young Prince Jared...that he can claim to have any expertise in.

I’d be feverishly working on prison reform too if I was part of that administration.

This is indicative of a non-ideological presidency... Because Trump can't be bothered with developing any rational opinions on any matters, initiatives that don't garner huge headlines receive zero attention from him. As the article states, this leaves a vacuum for ideological players within his administration battling it out, often sidelining the people (Mr. Inch in this case) who should be formulating reforms or enforcing laws already on the books. Trump's guiding philosophy on matters that do gain headlines is "Reverse what Obama did." He's not a dealmaker, he's a dealbreaker.

More chaos in the Trump administration. It seems that Trump hires only 3 types of people: sycophants/family members (Jared, Ivanka, Giuliani, etc), totally clueless people (DeVos, Nielsen, Ben Carsen, etc) and hard-core ideologues (Sessions, Pompeo, Bolton, etc). Most appointments are of 2 or all 3 of these types; all appointments are corrupting our democracy.

I'd be concerned that by squeezing the Director out, Sessions is setting the stage for a Republican push to privatize Federal prisons.

While, in concept, I might agree with Kushner's reform position, what is he even doing being involved with this? Middle East peace not challenging enough? How many pies does he have his fingers in? He's not competent for any of them. What a circus.