--- title: Obama Prison Visit to Oklahoma Scheduled for July 16 description: He'll become the first sitting U.S. president to visit a federal penitentiary. canonical: https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/ author: Eric Dodds article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-10T18:33:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:37.190Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama to Make History With Prison Visit og:description: He'll become the first sitting U.S. president to visit a federal penitentiary og:url: https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e30f471ba0dfcc0/69885a7ccd1bba65456fc39f/obama-prison-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama to Make History With Prison Visit twitter:description: He'll become the first sitting U.S. president to visit a federal penitentiary twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e30f471ba0dfcc0/69885a7ccd1bba65456fc39f/obama-prison-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama to Make History With Prison Visit > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: How President Obama's Dealt With Hecklers Over The Years [Watch (HLS stream): How President Obama's Dealt With Hecklers Over The Years](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RFU4mo1g.m3u8) (2:12)  _Published 2015-06-25. After President Obama dealt with a heckler inside_ by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Jul 10, 2015 6:33 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama speaks about bills declaring three new national monuments in the Oval Office of the White House July 10, 2015 in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) US President Barack Obama speaks about bills declaring three new national monuments in the Oval Office of the White House July 10, 2015 in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI—AFP/Getty Images by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Jul 10, 2015 6:33 PM UTC President Obama will [visit](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/10/obama-to-visit-federal-prison-in-oklahoma-on-thursday/) El Reno, a medium-security federal prison in El Rino, Okla., next Thursday as part of his effort to reform the U.S. criminal justice system. His visit will mark the first time a sitting U.S. President has visited a federal penitentiary, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest. Obama is expected to reveal his ideas for revising the nation’s sentencing rules on Tuesday, two days before his visit. The President will be accompanied by Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels Jr. during his time at El Reno. The visit comes on the heels of Obama’s decision to commute the sentences of 22 drug offenders in March, and he is expected to add to that tally next week. \[[_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/10/obama-to-visit-federal-prison-in-oklahoma-on-thursday/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/"},"headline":"Obama to Make History With Prison Visit","datePublished":"2015-07-10T18:33:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:37.190Z","description":"He'll be the first sitting U.S. president to visit a federal penitentiary","url":"https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/","keywords":["White House","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e30f471ba0dfcc0/69885a7ccd1bba65456fc39f/obama-prison-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Dodds","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e30f471ba0dfcc0/69885a7ccd1bba65456fc39f/obama-prison-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/","name":"Obama to Make History With Prison Visit"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How President Obama's Dealt With Hecklers Over The Years","description":"After President Obama dealt with a heckler inside","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RFU4mo1g/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-25T19:36:13.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RFU4mo1g.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/","duration":"PT2M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3954018/obama-prison-visit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```