Sanders pushes criminal justice reform in eastern Iowa

ANAMOSA, Ia. — Sen. Bernie Sanders let go of the mic for the better part of a Saturday morning campaign stop focused on issues of criminal justice and race.

A crowd of about 200 people packed into the cafeteria of Strawberry Hill Elementary — a setting intentionally picked for its proximity to Anamosa State Penitentiary. Sanders moderated a panel that included two ex-convicts and Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator who took a leave of absence from the Ohio Democratic Party to campaign for Sanders.

"I've got a long speech, but I ain't gonna give it," Sanders told the nearly all-white crowd early on. "Because these guys know a lot more about this than I do."

One panelist, Ruben Johnson, said he was released from prison with $75 in an envelope and little direction or support. He said he was waiting for the "next step."

"There are no next steps," said Johnson, who said he has been incarcerated three times in Iowa and Illinois. "I didn't know what to expect, but I expected something."

Sanders likened the lack of support and programming for released prisoners to veterans returning home from war.

"If that's the case, why is it not surprising that so many people end up back in jail?" he said.

Sanders used the personal stories to call for a reinstatement of voting rights for felons who have served their time.

Jerome Miller said he served 11 years in prisons in New York and Iowa. Since his release in 2010, he said he has worked to help other ex-convicts find employment. He said restoring his right to vote would help make him a "whole person."

"Right now I'm a second-class citizen. I can't vote and I can't carry a gun," Miller said. "I don't want a gun, and the only person I probably would vote for if I could is Bernie."

Miller, who is now working on his master's degree, said prisoners and former prisoners have lost their sense of purpose and aren't living up to their potential. He recalled a statement he made to the parole board when it asked why he should be released:

"Please do not put me inside the warehouse on a shelf and make me sit there. I am useful," he said. "I can use my experience, bad or good, to help those who unfortunately may be traveling the way I was traveling."

Sanders eventually steered the forum away from the announced topic and delved into the more familiar stump speech territory of income inequality. On Friday, the Sanders campaign blasted network news programs after a new report found the Sanders campaign was receiving far less coverage than other candidates with similar levels of support.

"Today in America you have a middle class which is disappearing. You have in some cases people's life expectancy going down. Massive despair," Sanders said Saturday. "Is that reflected on television? Is the reality, the pain of America, reflected in TV?"

In Dubuque on Saturday afternoon, Sanders gave his usual stump speech, peppering in some foreign policy comments toward the end. Pointing to recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Sanders said ISIS must be destroyed. But he reiterated his stance that such an effort must include other major countries, such as Russia and Middle Eastern nations.

He said the United States needs a foreign policy that is not only tough, but smart. He said it's easy to get votes by calling for overseas invasions, but that such rhetoric can be shortsighted.

"But here is my nightmare," Sanders said. "My nightmare is that we do not learn the lessons of Iraq."

AT THE EVENTS

SETTINGS: Cafeteria of Strawberry Hill Elementary School in Anamosa; ballroom at Grand River Center in Dubuque.

CROWDS: About 200 people in Anamosa; more than 700 in Dubuque.

REACTIONS: The crowd responded enthusiastically to Sanders and to members of the morning panel discussing criminal justice issues. In Dubuque, Sanders enjoyed an enthusiastic and raucous crowd.

OTHER STOPS: Sanders also held a Saturday afternoon event in Clinton and capped the night off with a rally in Waterloo.

WHAT’S NEXT: Sanders has Sunday events planned for Waterloo, Mount Vernon and Davenport.