Obama to become first sitting US President to visit prison

Barack Obama is set to become the first sitting US President to visit the inside of a federal prison as part of a push to change the country's justice system.

Mr Obama will meet separately with law enforcement officials and non-violent drug offenders who are paying their debt to society at a medium-security prison for male offenders in the state of Oklahoma.

From shortening the prison sentences of nearly four-dozen non-violent drug offenders to advocating the reduction, or outright elimination, of severe mandatory minimum sentences, Mr Obama has argued forcefully this week for an alternative to the continued lengthy incarceration of people convicted of crimes he said did not fit the punishment.

Mr Obama has said that overly harsh prison sentences, particularly for non-violent drug crimes, are to blame for doubling the prison population in the past two decades.

Half a million people were behind bars in 1980, a figure that has since quadrupled to its current total of more than 2.2 million inmates.

"Mass incarceration makes our country worse off, and we need to do something about it," Mr Obama said in a recent speech.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said "unique steps" will be taken to protect Mr Obama during the visit. He did not elaborate.

Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said "comprehensive security screening" will be conducted, calling it standard practice.

Earlier this week, Mr Obama commuted the sentences of 46 non-violent drug offenders, 14 of whom had been serving life in prison.