When Walter Johnson learned that he would be free after spending 28 years in prison, the burden of five life sentences had finally been lifted. “I felt awesome,” he recalled.
Having spent nearly three decades of his life in a cage, the prospect of being a free man loomed on the horizon. He described it as “one of the most beautiful experiences in the world.”
Johnson was granted release under the bipartisan First Step Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2018. Judge Frederic Block, sentenced Johnson to five life sentences for robbery, drug possession, and witness tampering in 1997. Almost three decades later, Block became the judge who released him.
Block, who was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994, is still adjudicating cases at the age of 90. In his book, “A Second Chance: A Federal Judge Decides Who Deserves It,” he outlines how the First Step Act allows judges to reduce sentences for “extraordinary and compelling reasons.”
“It’s an important concept to deal with our mass incarceration problem, to deal with really important second chances,” Block told Townhall.
“I credit Trump because if he didn’t sign the First Step Act, we would not be talking,” he said.
The First Step Act was a landmark piece of criminal justice reform legislation. Its aim was to address mass incarceration, sentencing disparities and reduce recidivism. So far, the law has been an overwhelming success.
“Judges now are obligated to take a second look at who deserves a second chance in treatment,” Block explained.
Under the legislation, judges like Block can reduce sentences based on a variety of factors, including rehabilitation, age, health, or changes in the law. Federal inmates are able to work through several programs to learn new skills while preparing themselves for life on the outside.
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"I dedicated myself to programming. I worked to the psychology department and asked questions about myself, my behaviors, my community... I just started becoming a different person,” Johnson told Townhall.
The former inmate also led victim impact and anti-violence initiatives during his time in prison and worked to shed his past “gangster” identity. He explained the forces that led to his embrace of the gangster lifestyle.
I was made to believe in the gangster concept and the gangster lifestyle. I, unfortunately, believed it, and I lived that way. And then living that way, it caused me to constantly be in this circle of ignorance and make mistake after mistake and feel like I could care less because the only thing that mattered was that I survived. And unfortunately, Personally, that lifestyle was terrible because the same way I watch other guys and glorify their conduct and they became my heroes, I didn't realize that I was doing the same thing to other people's children.
Johnson detailed how he sought to “reinvent” himself while serving his sentence.” Instead of me worrying about what my friends thought or what they said, I said it's not about them anymore. It's about right and wrong. And I know what I'm doing is right,” he told Townhall.
One of the key concerns about the First Step Act is that it would lead to judges releasing dangerous criminals, which might threaten public safety. During the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, former Vice President Mike Pence and Gov. Ron DeSantis raised these criticisms. DeSantis referred to the First Step Act as a “jailbreak bill” and suggested it should be repealed.
However, this has not been the case. Judge Block, in his book, acknowledged that “The idea of letting a criminal out of jail before his full sentence has been served is politically charged.” But he told Townhall that judges are “not letting people out who are violent people who are not going to rehabilitate.”
Block further noted that “The recidivism rate … has gotten significantly lower under the First Step Act.”
The data seems to support Block’s statement.
The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) found that those released under the FSA had a recidivism rate of 12.4 percent, which is 37 percent lower than the national rate. The Sentencing Project also found that 88 percent of inmates released under the legislation had not been rearrested or reincarcerated. The typical recidivism rate was 45 percent.
People like Block, along with criminal justice advocates, have pushed for states to adopt their own versions of the FSA. The law covers only federal cases. Inmates incarcerated at the federal level make up only ten percent of the overall prison population, meaning that many more deserving prisoners don’t have as favorable a chance of having their sentences reduced.
As Block pointed out, state parole systems are largely rigid and ineffective, with politics and bureaucracy preventing inmates from receiving a second chance. “The parole system in states [is] egregiously broken and in urgent need of overhaul,” he told Townhall.
Block further argues in his book that “It is imperative that all the states take up the congressional cudgels and enact comparable First Step acts as well. Otherwise, our mass incarceration problem and the sentencing inequities addressed by Congress in its initial first step will persist.”
Johnson concurred, stating that “we need reforms … where we’re not just focused on punishment, but we’re also focused on rehabilitating people.”
There were roughly 1.9 million people incarcerated in the United States at the federal, state, and local levels in 2022, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This means about one in every 180 Americans is in jail or prison. The United States’ incarceration rate is between 500 to 600 per 100,000 residents, the highest in the world.
Additionally, housing prisoners is a significant expense. States spend an average of $64,865 per prisoner annually. The total state prison budgets totaled about $64 billion in 2021. This suggests that a large portion of taxpayer dollars is going to imprison people. It means that if more states passed legislation similar to the First Step Act, it could at least partially relieve the burden on taxpayers that goes toward housing inmates who might be worthy of early release.
As Judge Block pointed out, “We have 90-year-old people dying in the hospital jail .. they can be taken care of cheaper in some [other way].”
Now that he is a free man, Johnson wishes to use his story to prevent others from walking the same path he walked decades ago. "I pray to God that I’ll be able to prevent other people’s children from walking in my footsteps,” he said.
Through his organization, Champions for Change, Johnson is focused on empowering others to benefit their communities.
The former inmate, through his community work and social media, is working to make a positive difference. On his YouTube channel, Johnson uses his life story to help others avoid his fate. As he told Townhall, “I’m not the same man I was back then. I’ve done the time, and I’ve done the work to change. All I want now is to help others avoid the path I took.”
Check out this CBS News interview with Block and Johnson below.
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