Jared’s New Project: Prison Reform

Jared Kushner Image by Department of Defense

By Nathan Guttman January 10, 2018

President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has come under fire for overloading his portfolio with pretty much every issue on the American agenda, from pursuing Middle East peace to solving the opioid crisis to serving as an unofficial liaison to China and Mexico. Now, as Axios reports, it appears that Kushner has also been working behind the scenes on an ambitious prison reform program, which will be rolled out Thursday with a listening session hosted by the president.

The idea is to harness widespread bipartisan support to address the nation’s mass incarceration problem. Democrats have long supported the issue, and Republicans have come to view it positively since having fewer prisoners can cut government spending. The idea was hashed out in an informal dinner Kushner and Ivanka Trump hosted at their home for senators from both parties.

According to Axios, Kushner is personally interested in the issue of prison reform “given the former imprisonment of his father, developer Charles Kushner.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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