Roughly 6,000 federal inmates will be released in the coming weeks in an effort to ease prison crowding and lessen harsh penalties for non-violent offenders, US media report.
The release is the biggest of its kind in US history, the Washington Post reported.
The inmates being released early were all convicted of drug-related charges.
An additional 8,500 inmates will be eligible for release starting in November.
The US Sentencing Commission unanimously approved the reductions to the jail terms of inmates last year.
Up to 46,000 of the nation's about 100,000 drug offenders could qualify for early release under the commission recommendations.
These 6,000 prisoners are the first wave of early releases. Most of the those released will see about two years trimmed from their original prison terms.
"Even with the Sentencing Commission's reductions, drug offenders will have served substantial prison sentences," Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told the Post.
About 46,000 inmates convicted of non-violent drug crimes could eventually be released
About one-third of the inmates up for release are foreign citizens. They will be quickly deported, officials said.
President Barack Obama's administration has been working to tackle what he sees as a lack of fairness in the system.
The planned releases continue a drive that started in 2013 when US Attorney General Eric Holder dropped mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders.
Many leading Democrats and Republicans now believe that mandatory prison sentences that led to mass incarceration in the US have not been effective.
The US has almost a quarter of the world's prison population - one in every 99 Americans is behind bars.
Mass release
Mass release
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Mass release
Long overdue.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: Mass release
"Alternatively, we might give them a new car, put them on welfare, give 'em free health care, and let them vote in 2016 for whoever they feel did their best to set them free"About one-third of the inmates up for release are foreign citizens. They will be quickly deported, officials said.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
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Sue U
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Re: Mass release
This ain't the UK.MajGenl.Meade wrote:"Alternatively, we might give them a new car, put them on welfare, give 'em free health care, and let them vote in 2016 for whoever they feel did their best to set them free"About one-third of the inmates up for release are foreign citizens. They will be quickly deported, officials said.
GAH!
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oldr_n_wsr
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Re: Mass release
It would be interesting to see what the "drug related charges" are. Are they addicts who have not gotten treatment? in which case they will most likely return to being addicts. time without the drug very rarely leads to recovery
If they were dealers, did they get any training to help them get some other job other than dealing?
I doubt very much that these people were helped in any way to turn thier lives around. In which case I would guess upwards of 90% will be back in prison before too long. And that includes those deported who are most likely gang bangers and they will be back and back to deal again.
If they were dealers, did they get any training to help them get some other job other than dealing?
I doubt very much that these people were helped in any way to turn thier lives around. In which case I would guess upwards of 90% will be back in prison before too long. And that includes those deported who are most likely gang bangers and they will be back and back to deal again.
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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: Mass release
Sue U wrote:This ain't the UK.MajGenl.Meade wrote:"Alternatively, we might give them a new car, put them on welfare, give 'em free health care, and let them vote in 2016 for whoever they feel did their best to set them free"About one-third of the inmates up for release are foreign citizens. They will be quickly deported, officials said.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts