46 Granted Clemency for Low-Level Drug Offenses

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/07/13/46-granted-clemency-for-low-level-drug-offenses.htm

(CN) - President Barack Obama announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 46 federal drug offenders, a day before he is to deliver a major speech on criminal justice reform in Philadelphia.
     "These men and women were not violent criminals, but the overwhelming majority had been sentenced to at least 20 years -- 14 of them had been sentenced to life for nonviolent drug offenses, so their punishments didn't fit the crime," the president said in a video released through the White House Facebook page. "And if they'd been sentenced under today's laws nearly all of them would have already served their time.
     "I've made clear to them that reentering society is going to require responsibility on their part, and hard work, and smarter choices, but I believe that America, at its heart, is a nation of second chances, and I believe these folks deserve their second chance," the president said.
     The commutations announced Monday more than double the number of nonviolent criminals to whom President Obama has granted clemency since taking office. In doing so, he is following through on a Justice Department clemency initiative announced in April 2014.
     Under the addition, the agency is prioritizing clemency applications for federal inmates who are nonviolent, low level offenders who have served at least 10 years in prison, have no significant ties to gangs or organized crime, and have demonstrated good conduct while incarcerated.
     The president described the initiative as a method of making the criminal justice system "work smarter" and "work better."
     The majority of those granted clemency Monday were sentenced to crimes involving crack and cocaine; two of the inmates were convicted on marijuana-related charges.
     In a letter sent to each of the inmates, the president wrote, "I am granting your application because you have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around. Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity."
     "It will not be easy, and you will confront many who doubt people with criminal records can change. Perhaps even you are unsure f how you will adjust to your new circumstances," he continued. "Bit remember that you have the capacity to make good choices. By doing so, you will affect not only your own life, but those close to you.
     "You will also influence, through your example, the possibility that others in your circumstances get their own second change in the future," the president said.

[WithoutAPaddle]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/07/13/46-granted-clemency-for-low-level-drug-offenses.htm

...President Barack Obama announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 46 federal drug offenders...

...the agency is prioritizing clemency applications for federal inmates who are nonviolent, low level offenders who have served at least 10 years in prison, have no significant ties to gangs or organized crime, and have demonstrated good conduct while incarcerated.

I'd have to think that the number of jailed offenders who are, "nonviolent, low level offenders who have served at least 10 years in prison, have no significant ties to gangs or organized crime, and have demonstrated good conduct while incarcerated", must be well into the thousands and likely in the tens of thousands, so how did these 46 win the Grandstanding lottery?

[Free libertarian]

Slaves need special papers from masters to travel.  Free people do not.

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/07/13/46-granted-clemency-for-low-level-drug-offenses.htm

...President Barack Obama announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 46 federal drug offenders...

...the agency is prioritizing clemency applications for federal inmates who are nonviolent, low level offenders who have served at least 10 years in prison, have no significant ties to gangs or organized crime, and have demonstrated good conduct while incarcerated.

I'd have to think that the number of jailed offenders who are, "nonviolent, low level offenders who have served at least 10 years in prison, have no significant ties to gangs or organized crime, and have demonstrated good conduct while incarcerated", must be well into the thousands and likely in the tens of thousands, so how did these 46 win the Grandstanding lottery?

Schindlers list?

[Tom Sawyer]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/07/13/46-granted-clemency-for-low-level-drug-offenses.htm

...President Barack Obama announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 46 federal drug offenders...

...the agency is prioritizing clemency applications for federal inmates who are nonviolent, low level offenders who have served at least 10 years in prison, have no significant ties to gangs or organized crime, and have demonstrated good conduct while incarcerated.

I'd have to think that the number of jailed offenders who are, "nonviolent, low level offenders who have served at least 10 years in prison, have no significant ties to gangs or organized crime, and have demonstrated good conduct while incarcerated", must be well into the thousands and likely in the tens of thousands, so how did these 46 win the Grandstanding lottery?

Schindlers list?

Obama's Tokens...
Maybe the powers that be are recognizing the change in the wind and are trying to soften the harsh legacy they will leave for history to judge.

I wonder if they are going to release the guy in Florida they gave life because he wouldn't roll over on his own sons... watermelon farmers that decided that pot was more profitable.
Because that is the way their system works... the people that don't have or aren't willing to sacrifice someone else to the beast have the full weight of mandatory minimums land on their shoulders. Often higher ups would rat out underlings and not serve any time.

Evil... many of the current police state aspects are directly a result of their war on some drugs.

[WithoutAPaddle]

Picking up the pace...

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/06/u-s-to-release-6-000-federal-prisoners-washington-post/21245803/?icid=maing-grid7%7Clegacy%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D1032796829

National Security
Justice Department set to free 6,000 prisoners, largest one-time release

By Sari Horwitz October 6 at 12:27 PM

The Justice Department is set to release about 6,000 inmates early from prison — the largest one-time release of federal prisoners — in an effort to reduce overcrowding and provide relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past three decades.

The inmates from federal prisons nationwide will be set free by the department's Bureau of Prisons between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2. Most of them will go to halfway houses and home confinement before being put on supervised release.

The early release follows action by the U.S. Sentencing Commission — an independent agency that sets sentencing policies for federal crimes — which reduced the potential punishment for future drug offenders last year and then made that change retroactive.

The commission's action is separate from an effort by President Obama to grant clemency to certain nonviolent drug offenders, an initiative that has resulted in the early release of 89 inmates.

The panel estimated that its change in sentencing guidelines eventually could result in 46,000 of the nation's approximately 100,000 drug offenders in federal prison qualifying for early release. The 6,000 figure, which has not been reported previously, is the first tranche in that process.

"The number of people who will be affected is quite exceptional," said Mary Price, general counsel for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an advocacy group that supports sentencing reform.

[How a first crack cocaine conviction led to a life sentence]

The Sentencing Commission estimated that an additional 8,550 inmates would be eligible for release between this Nov. 1 and Nov. 1, 2016.

The releases are part of a shift in the nation's approach to criminal justice and drug sentencing. Along with the commission's action, the Justice Department has instructed its prosecutors not to charge low-level, nonviolent drug offenders who have no connection to gangs or large-scale drug organizations with offenses that carry severe mandatory sentences.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously for the reduction last year after holding two public hearings in which members heard testimony from former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr., federal judges, federal public defenders, state and local law enforcement officials, and sentencing advocates. The panel also received more than 80,000 public comment letters, with the overwhelming majority favoring the change.

Congress did not act to disapprove the change to the sentencing guidelines, so it became effective on Nov. 1, 2014. The commission then gave the Justice Department a year to prepare for the huge release of inmates.


The policy change is referred to as "Drugs Minus Two." Federal sentencing guidelines rely on a numeric system based on different factors, including the defendant's criminal history, the type of crime, whether a gun was involved and whether the defendant was a leader in a drug group.

The sentencing panel's change decreased the value attached to most drug-trafficking offenses by two levels, regardless of the type of drug or the amount.

An average of about two years is being shaved off eligible prisoners' sentences under the change. Although some of the inmates who will be released have served decades, on average they will have served 8 1/2 years instead of 10 1/2 , according to a Justice Department official.

"Even with the Sentencing Commission's reductions, drug offenders will have served substantial prison sentences," Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said. "Moreover, these reductions are not automatic. Under the commission's directive, federal judges are required to carefully consider public safety in deciding whether to reduce an inmate's sentence."

[The painful price of aging in prison]

In each case, inmates must petition a judge, who decides whether to grant the sentencing reduction. Judges nationwide are granting about 70 sentence reductions per week, Justice officials said. Some of the inmates already have been sent to halfway houses.

In some cases, federal judges have denied inmates' requests for early release. 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.

Federal prosecutors did not oppose a request by defense lawyers to have the associates, Melvin D. Butler and James Antonio Jones, released early in November. But last month Lamberth denied the request, which would have cut about two years from each man's projected 28 1/2 -year sentence.

"The court struggles to understand how the government could condone the release of Butler and Jones, each convicted of high-level, sophisticated and violent drug-trafficking offenses," Lamberth wrote. The Edmond group imported as much as 1,700 pounds of Colombian cocaine a month into the city in the 1980s, according to court papers.

Critics, including some federal prosecutors, judges and police officials, have raised concerns that allowing so many inmates to be released at the same time could cause crime to increase.

But Justice officials said that about one-third of the inmates who will be released in a few weeks are foreign citizens who will be quickly deported.

They also pointed to a study last year that found that the recidivism rate for offenders who were released early after changes in crack-cocaine sentencing guidelines in 2007 was not significantly different from the rate for offenders who completed their sentences.

[The issue that Obama and the Koch brothers actually agree on]

"Prison officials and probation officers are working hard to ensure that returning offenders are adequately supervised and monitored," Yates said.

Federal prison costs represent about one-third of the Justice Department's $27 billion budget. The U.S. population has grown by about a third since 1980, but the federal prison population has increased by about 800 percent and federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent over capacity, Justice officials said.

Last week, a group of senators introduced a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, the first such legislation in decades. Although some advocates say it doesn't go far enough, the measure, which is supported by a coalition that includes the Koch brothers and the American Civil Liberties Union, would shorten the length of mandatory-minimum drug sentences that were part of the tough-on-crime laws passed during the war on drugs in the 1980s and 1990s.

If passed by Congress and signed by Obama, the reforms would apply retroactively, allowing inmates who were previously incarcerated under mandatory minimums an opportunity for release.

"It's a remarkable moment," Price said. "Over the past several years, the tone of the discussion about incarceration has changed dramatically. We have come to the realization that our punitive approach to drug crimes is not working and has produced significant injustices."


Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.

[KBCraig]

That's great news, but I'm glad I don't work there any more... it's going to be insane.

[WithoutAPaddle]

"On the other hand..." - Pat Paulsen

Opinions
Ending the war on drugs would not end mass incarceration


By Charles Lane Opinion writer October 14 at 7:23 PM

It seems that no presidential debate this year would be complete without denunciations of the drug laws, which, it is alleged, result in long prison terms for thousands of people, disproportionately African Americans, who are guilty only of low-level offenses, thus fueling "mass incarceration."

At the last Republican debate, on Sept.?16, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina charged that "two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug-related."
Charles Lane is a Post editorial writer, specializing in economic policy, federal fiscal issues and business, and a contributor to the PostPartisan blog. View Archive

Apropos of former Florida governor Jeb Bush's admitted youthful marijuana use, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) observed that "there is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to jail for this are poor people, often African Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't."

When Democrats faced off Tuesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he is for marijuana legalization, "because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for nonviolent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana."

"I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. .?.?. We have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana," the front-running former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, chimed in.

Too bad this bipartisan agreement is contradicted by the evidence. Fiorina's numbers, for example, are exaggerated: In 2014, 46 percent of all state and federal inmates were in for violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault), according to the latest Justice Department data. And this is a conservative estimate, since the definition of violent offense excludes roughly 30,000 federal prisoners, about 16 percent of the total, who are doing time for weapons violations.

Drug offenders account for only 19.5?percent of the total state-federal prison population, most of whom, especially in the federal system, were convicted of dealing drugs such as cocaine, heroin and meth, not "smoking marijuana."
Click here for more information!

Undeniably, the population of state prisons (which house the vast majority of offenders) grew from 294,000 in 1980 to 1,362,000 in 2009 — a stunning 363?percent increase — though it has been on a downward trajectory since the latter date.

But only 21 percent of that growth was due to the imprisonment of drug offenders, most of which occurred between 1980 and 1989, not more recently, according to a review of government data reported by Fordham law professor John Pfaff in the Harvard Journal of Legislation. More than half of the overall increase was due to punishment of violent offenses, not drugs, Pfaff reports.

Reviewing data admittedly drawn mostly from Northern "blue" states, Pfaff determined that "the median stay in prison for a drug offender is generally about a year," and that "relatively few people appear to be in prison on marijuana charges" — fewer still for simple possession.

Given the relatively small share of drug offenders, ending the war on drugs would not significantly alter the racial disparity in incarceration rates, contrary to the conventional wisdom.

Blacks make up 37.5 percent of all state prisoners, about triple their share of the population as a whole, according to the Justice Department. If we released all 208,000 people currently in state prison on a drug charge, the proportion of African Americans in state prison would still be 37 percent.

In short, ending the "war on drugs" is not quite the panacea for mass incarceration that politicians imply.

Marijuana legalization could help reduce arrest rates, to be sure; and to the extent fewer people get busted for smoking pot, that would, indeed, cut down on the resulting undue negative personal and social consequences.

Otherwise, the bipartisan consensus in favor of looser drug laws is just the latest political free lunch, served up by politicians who would rather discuss anything except real public policy trade-offs.

Republicans and Democrats alike are propounding the crowd-pleasing notion that we can have less incarceration — saving the country billions of dollars and international shame — without risking an increase in violent crime, or other harms.

In truth, if we released all 300,000 drug offenders from state and federal prison, the U.S. incarceration rate would still be far higher than it was three decades ago, and far higher than the rates of other industrial democracies.

The only way to lower it dramatically would be to reduce the frequency and duration of imprisonment for violent crimes, while continuing to reduce violent crime itself.

If any of the candidates has a plan to do that, he or she should speak up.

Read more from Charles Lane's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

Read more

Charles Lane: Reaching a verdict on the era of mass incarceration

Michael Gerson: Mass incarceration's tragic success

The Post's View: The U.S. locks up way too many people. That could change.