Yamiche Alcindor:

Under the new criminal justice law signed by President Trump today, federal inmates will be placed in prisons within 500 miles of their families. That's just one of the changes coming from the FIRST STEP Act.

It's a rare bipartisan effort that deals with both sentencing and prison reforms. It will also lower mandatory minimum sentences. It will retroactively change sentencing disparities for drug crimes, including for powder and crack cocaine. Such differences have often led to longer prison times for African-Americans.

Those changes will benefit about 2,000 inmates. They could shave 53,000 years off sentences over the next 10 years. The bill would also end life sentences under the three-strike law established in a 1994 crime bill. There are also changes to encourage prisoners to participate in recidivism programs.

In an often bitterly divided Washington, the bill was passed overwhelmingly by both chambers of Congress. It united conservatives like the Koch brothers with liberal groups like the ACLU. Even celebrities, like Kim Kardashian, voiced their support.

But the road to yes was long.