President Obama signs Crack Bill

On August 3rd, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, reforming the notorious “100-to-1″ ratio between crack and powder cocaine into an 18-to-1 ratio.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums reports,”In an Oval Office Ceremony today, President Barack Obama signed sweeping reforms to federal crack cocaine laws, reducing unduly harsh sentences for crack violations and repealing the five-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine.  This is the first time that a mandatory minimum drug sentence has been repealed since the Nixon Administration.

The new law does not eliminate the mandatory minimum for trafficking crack cocaine, however the infamous 100-to-1 sentencing ratio is now reduced to 18-to-1.  Moving forward, 28 grams of crack cocaine will trigger a five-year prison sentence and 280 grams of crack will trigger a 10-year sentence.  The law could affect an estimated 3,000 cases annually, reducing sentences by an average of about two years and saving an estimated $42 million over five years.  The new law also increases sentences for drug offenses involving vulnerable victims, violence and other aggravating factors.”

For more detailed information about the history of the federal crack disparity and the changes that will result under the new law, go to the following link at FAMM’s website, www.famm.org.

New CEPR report on “The High Budgetary Cost of Incarceration”

Click here to read the new Center for Economic and Policy Research report titled “The High Budgetary Cost of Incarceration.”

This CEPR press release adds comments and details about the report:

“State and local governments are under tremendous fiscal pressure,” said John Schmitt, a senior economist at CEPR and lead author of the report.  ”Shifting just half of the non-violent offenders from prison and jail to probation and parole could save state and local governments $15 billion per year.

The study points out that some of the main causes of the rise in incarceration rates are policies such as “mandatory minimums” and “three strikes” laws that often lead to long prison terms for non-violent offenders.  Earlier research on the connection between crime and incarceration suggests that state and local governments could shift non-violent offenders from jail and prison to probation and parole with little or no deterioration in public safety.

Among key findings are:

• In 2008, one in every 48 working-age men were in prison or jail
• Non-violent offenders make up over 60 percent of the prison and jail population; non-violent drug offenders account for one-fourth of all offenders behind bars
• The total number of violent crimes in the United States was only about three percent higher in 2008 than it was in 1980.  Over the same period, the U.S. population increased by 33 percent while the prison and jail population skyrocketed by more than 350 percent.

After Graduation, Back to Sing Sing Cellblock, With Hope

In 1990, federal and state governments forbade giving government education grants to convicted felons, disbanding the many programs which provided education to prison inmates.  Programs such as the Hudson Link for Higher Education were created in response to cutbacks.

At the June graduation this year, 28 men walked down the aisle to receive their diplomas.  Ten men received their Bachelor of Science degree and 18 men earned Associates degrees.  So far, Sing Sing, with the assistance of Hudson Link for Higher Education, has produced 196 graduates and an additional 107 inmates are currently enrolled in the program. It is interesting to note, out of the 196 graduates, 41 inmates have been released and not one has returned to prison.  Nationally, about 60 percent of inmates released from prison come back.

Click here to read the New York Times article.

Doing Time, And Doing Good, In La.’s Angola Prison

Click here to read or listen to NPR’s Terry Gross interview with Wilbert Rideau.

Wilbert Rideau was sent to Louisisana’s notorious Angola prison in 1961, at the age of 19, for killing a bank-teller hostage after a botched robbery.  After 44 years and multiple retrials, he was released on Jan. 15, 2005.

Exonerated Man, Accuser Forge Rare Bond

An amazing story about the power of forgiveness.  Click to read:

Part I: Exonerated Man, Accuser Forge Rare Bond

Part II: Exonerated after 14 years, inmate and his fiancee start life together at last