President Obama Visits Federal Prison In El Reno

Thursday is day two of President Obama's visit to Oklahoma.  This morning, the president is visiting the Federal Correctional Institute in El Reno.  

President Obama will make history as the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. Over 2 million Americans are behind bars. America has world's highest incarceration rate and it costs the U.S. $80 billion a year.  

In a speech earlier this week, Obama said that money could be better spent on universal pre-school, across the board raise of teacher salaries, and new roads and bridges.  

During his visit to the El Reno prison Obama will meet with law enforcement officials and inmates.  El Reno is a medium-security prison facility with about 1,300 male inmates.  

The president has repeatedly said that criminal justice reform is one of the few major issues he hopes to tackle in the final years of his presidency.

There is a growing consensus among Democrats and Republicans that it's time to end the "war on crime" by taking steps like reforming policing policies and reducing draconian sentencing rules.

CBS News contributed to this report.