More than 6,000 inmates convicted of drug charges will be released from federal prison at the end of the month in what experts say will be among the largest inmate releases in USA history.
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More than 3,000 of those granted reduced sentences are non-U.S. citizens with many expected to be deported after their release. “We are overjoyed that a few of the people so wronged will get their freedom back”, McCurdy stated. Instead, unnecessary resources are spent housing inmates who have been given such impractically lengthy sentences over harmless drug convictions.
According to the commission’s annual report, around 40,000 offenders may become eligible for reduced sentences, which must be approved by federal judges before terms can be cut.
Attorney General Sally Yates said in a statement via Fox News, “Even with the Sentencing Commission’s reductions, drug offenders will have served substantial prison sentences”.
[Justice Department set to free 6,000 prisoners, largest one-time release]. The disparity in sentencing policies had a devastating effect on minority communities already ravaged by high unemployment, crime and drug addiction.
Many defendants slated for early release are small-time drug dealers affected by harsher approaches to drug enforcement.
The federal prison system holds thousands of inmates who probably don’t need to be there, either because they received unduly long sentences for low-level, nonviolent drug offenses committed decades ago, or because they’re now simply too old to represent much of a threat (crime being overwhelmingly a young man’s game).
The justice department sticks to its support for sentencing reform for low-level drug offenses. For example, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth recently denied requests from two top associates of Rayful Edmond III, one of the District’s most notorious drug kingpins.
Civil libertarians and prisoner rights groups hailed the release in a story by Michael S. Schmidt in the New York Times.
A spokesman for the Sentencing Commission was unable to confirm the number of people who will be released on or around November 1, saying that the Bureau of Prisons, a branch of the Justice Department, is responsible for keeping tabs on release dates. Instead, federal judges are required to carefully consider public safety in deciding whether to reduce an inmate’s sentence.
The massive prisoner releases that will occur this month and in the coming years are welcomed by sentencing-reform groups.
“Six thousand people could be a scary thing”, said Mary Price, general counsel of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which campaigns for sentencing reform.
Ever since last November, all federal prisoners such as Doe who were sentenced under the old guidelines have been eligible to apply for this reduction. “Over the past several years, the tone of the discussion about incarceration has changed dramatically”. A congressional oversight agency has reported that federal prisons are more than 30% over capacity and needs $7 billion to pay for its “obligations”.
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This process has already been going on for months, said the official, who didn’t want her name used.
