They asked him about Hillary Clinton’s emails. They questioned whether Russia influenced the 2016 presidential election. And they pushed back against his response to the opioid epidemic.
For Republican Rep. Chris Stewart, the Wednesday town hall sounded “much like any other” he’s held.
It just didn’t look the same.
As the congressman paced back and forth at the front of the room, the 25 men staring back at him wore white jumpsuits marked “INMATE.” They filled the wooden pews at a Utah State Prison chapel, tapping their fingers on the hymn books and raising their hands before asking questions.
Stewart started by talking about the “chaos” that the United States is in. His words could have just as easily applied to the inmate’s lives.
“I know we’re not perfect. Believe me, it’s not the first time we’ve had challenges,” he said about the nation and President Donald Trump‘s administration. But “we can get through this.”
The message resonated for Beau Heaps, 38, serving time for first-degree murder. Heaps went to prison when he was 17 years old. When he was released, he said, he fell into drugs and found his way back to a barred cell.
“A lot of us men want to change and do things right, but a lot of us come from dysfunction,” he explained.
Heaps, like many of the inmates, asked Stewart about criminal justice reform and sentencing.
“We’re grateful that you came out here,” he said, “but why do you think the U.S. has more people in prisons than any other country?”
Several of the men sitting around Heaps quietly cited statistics about recidivism and jail populations to back him up. Stewart acknowledged that it’s not his area of expertise.
“I wish I had an answer,” he said.
Heaps, who watches “Good Morning America” every day, also asked the congressman about Trump, wondering what impact Russia had on the 2016 U.S. election.
Stewart sits on the House Intelligence Committee and said there is no evidence of tampering with voting machines. But he believes the foreign government influenced Americans through propaganda.
“The Russian government didn’t elect Trump,” he said. “They didn’t actually change votes … [but] they certainly sought to influence the election. There’s no doubt about that. And they’ll do it again.”
“I’ve been trying to find a hacker to change my roommate,” Heaps joked.
Another inmate followed up by asking about Trump’s former Democratic opponent. “I’m in prison for the laws I broke,” he said, while Clinton “walked free” after using a private email server to receive work-related messages, including some classified information.
“You should get up and run for Congress,” Stewart responded with a laugh before saying all individuals should be treated equally under the law. Any special preference for “elites,” he added, threatens “the foundation” of the country.
The congressman told the inmates about his service in the Air Force, “the miracle of the Constitution,” the Civil War and his experience visiting Russia and Morocco. He talked about his time at Brigham Young University — prompting Travis Hull, who’s spent 14 months in prison on a burglary conviction, to ask Stewart about getting four-year college programs at the Wasatch facility, which provides low-custody-level housing for 580 inmates.
“That would help us succeed,” Hull said. “We have the time to do it, but not the opportunity.”
The prison offers vocational training, literacy classes and high school-level education.
Stewart’s interest in talking to the inmates wasn’t based on a budding interest in prison reform; rather, he “wanted to give them a chance to talk to their congressman.”
“They’re interested in politics,” he said. “They’re interested in the world.”
Stewart also toured a defunct block of the prison, ducking into Cell 204, which housed just a metal bed frame, desk and toilet. He asked about the facility’s technology — Corrections Department Lt. Melissa Moore compared the space, built in the 1950s, to the dilapidated Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in California — and how the inmates earn privileges.
He also talked about the new prison, set to open in 2021, that will replace the lockup in Draper.
And, as he walked out of the chapel, the congressman shook hands with the attendees. “Thanks for coming,” they said.
“We don’t always have the opportunity to voice our opinions,” Hull said, “especially here.”
