Obama Becomes 1st Sitting President to Visit Prison...

On Thursday, Obama continued his commitment to prison reform when he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. According to the Associated Press, Obama visited with staff and inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution El Reno, a medium-security facility near Oklahoma City. Officials opened a cell for the president so that he could see how prisoners are confined. The news site notes that the cell contained: "a double bunk bed and third bed along the wall, a toilet and sink, along with a small bookcase and three lockers." "Three full-grown men in a 9-by-10 cell," the president noted. The president sat with some six inmates who told him of their experiences both inside and outside prison. "When they describe their youth and their childhood, these are young people who made mistakes that aren't that

different than the mistakes I made," Obama said.

"It's not normal," he said, according to Vice News. "It's not what happens in other countries. What is normal is teenagers doing stupid things. What is normal is young people making mistakes." He added, "We've got to be able to distinguish between dangerous individuals who need to be incapacitated and incarcerated versus young people who, in an environment in which they are adapting, but if given different opportunities, a different vision of life, could be thriving the way we are."