Giving Compass' Take:

• Justin George interviews CNN host and founder of #cut50, Van Jones, who is supporting a prison reform bill aimed at improving conditions for incarcerated people. Critics argue the reform is too small, Van Jones believes that incremental progress is the only path forward.

• Is a small victory a win, or a setback for the movement? How can philanthropy effectively support prison reform?

• Read recommendations for impactful prison reform.

CNN commentator and host Van Jones has been involved with civil rights causes for years, including through #cut50, the organization he founded to advocate for slashing the nation’s incarcerated population in half.

But recently, he’s found himself under attack for supporting a bill that would improve some conditions for the nation’s 185,000 federal prisoners. The First Step Act, which is co-sponsored by Democrat Hakeem Jeffries and Republican Doug Collins, passed the House overwhelmingly last month. It would make it illegal to shackle pregnant prisoners, release more infirmed or elderly prisoners, place inmates in facilities closer to their families, and increase the number of days inmates can spend in halfway houses or home confinement.

But plenty of people on the left are angry over what’s missing: There is no mention of decreasing stiff drug sentences, ending long sentences or giving judges more discretion. Some opponents worry that settling for this version of federal reform would hand Trump a victory — and shut down the possibility of more aggressive change in the future.

Q: How did #cut50 get involved in supporting the First Step Act?

A: Hakeem Jeffries is a hero of the justice community. I’ve been a huge fan and follower of his for a long time. I agree with him that we need a stable bipartisan consensus to undo mass incarceration. In order to get there, we have to break this logjam that existed under President Barack Obama and in Congress. When we had Obama in the White House and [former U.S. Attorneys] Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch in the Department of Justice, we had a pretty robust bill that I fought tooth and nail to try to get passed. It had sentencing reform, prison reform, and every other kind of reform in there. In the fall of 2016, a bunch of people said, “Well, let's not pass this right now. The Democrats are going to have an epic victory. We'll have Hillary Clinton, more Democrats, and we can get an even better bill.” You see what happened. The lesson I learned from that was take the reform you can get when you can get it and keep going.

Read the full interview with Van Jones about incremental prison reform by Justin George at The Marshall Project