Her sentence now expires on May 5, 2018.
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A Des Moines woman, sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2007 for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine has had her sentence cut shorter by President Barack Obama. Crack users have for years faced far steeper penalties than users of powder cocaine, even though the two substances are molecularly similar.
Obama has now commuted the sentences of 306 people, including 110 who had been serving life terms. The administration has said the pace of commutations is expected to increase as the end of Obama’s presidency nears.
“As President, I’ve been working to bring about a more effective approach to our criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to drug crimes”, Obama wrote in a post explaining his decision Thursday.
Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement that the prisoners have been “granted a second chance to lead productive and law-abiding lives”.
Brown, a Rhode Island man, was sentenced in 2004 to life in prison on crack cocaine charges.
The announcement Thursday is part of an effort to reduce long prison sentences for certain federal drug offenders.
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Most of the convicts who will be freed early were non-violent drug offenders.
