Pubdate: Thu, 24 Apr 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.

CLEMENCY PLAN DETAILED

New Program Intended to Correct Sentencing Injustices Involving Drug 
Convictions

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced a federal clemency 
program on Wednesday, opening the door for thousands of jailed drug 
offenders and other convicts to seek early release as part of a new 
program intended to correct sentencing injustices and relieve prison 
overcrowding.

The process is directed primarily at low-level felons imprisoned for 
at least 10 years who have clean records while in custody. The effort 
is part of a broader administration push to scale back harsh 
penalties in some drug-related prosecutions and to address sentencing 
disparities arising from the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic that 
yielded disproportionately tough punishment for black drug offenders.

Though the clemency criteria apply solely to federal inmates, states, 
too are grappling with severe prison overcrowding. In Nebraska, for 
example, prisons were at 156 percent of capacity at the end of 
February. And in California, courts have ordered the state to reduce 
the inmate population to 137.5 percent of designed capacity, or 
112,164 inmates in the 34 facilities, by February 2016.

The White House, sometimes criticized as too stingy with its clemency 
power, says it's seeking more candidates for leniency in the 
overcrowded federal prison system.

The system's population has rocketed in recent decades, and officials 
have warned that rising, multibillion-dollar costs threaten their 
work in other areas. Of the roughly 216,000 inmates in federal 
custody, nearly half are imprisoned for drug-related crimes.

"These defendants were properly held accountable for their criminal 
conduct. However, some of them, simply because of the operation of 
sentencing laws on the books at the time, received substantial 
sentences that are disproportionate to what they would receive 
today," said Deputy Attorney General James Cole, who in January asked 
defense lawyers to help eligible prisoners prepare petitions for clemency.

"Even the sentencing judges in many of these cases expressed regret 
at the time at having to impose such harsh sentences," he said.

The U.S. Attorney in San Diego, Laura Duffy, said she is working to 
implement the new initiative.

"This program, which instills an additional layer of fairness and 
careful review in our justice system, will enable DOJ to devote more 
resources to other important areas, including critically needed 
re-entry programs designed to help prisoners successfully 
re-integrate into the community," Duffy said in a statement.

Reuben Cahn, executive director of Federal Defenders of San Diego, 
said Wednesday that the review process will take at least a month.

"I don't expect in this district there will be a huge number of 
cases, but I expect there to be some," Cahn said.

Officials say they don't know how many of the tens of thousands of 
drug-related convicts would be eligible for early release, but they 
say an ideal candidate would meet six criteria - including no history 
of violence, no ties to criminal organizations or gangs and a clean 
prison record. He must also have already served 10 years or more of 
his sentence and have received a harsher sentence than if convicted 
of the same crime today.

The Justice Department expects the vast majority of applicants to be 
drug prisoners but didn't foreclose the possibility that inmates 
convicted of other crimes - financial fraud, for example - could be considered.

"It's really a coming together of decades of excessive sentencing, 
particularly in drug cases, combined with attention to the underused 
power of commutation," said Marc Mauer, executive director of the 
Sentencing Project, an organization that works on sentencing policies.

The action is the latest in a series of changes the administration 
has sought for the criminal justice system, particularly within the past year.

Attorney General Eric Holder has endorsed proposals to lower 
sentencing guideline ranges for certain drug offenders and, in 
August, directed prosecutors not to charge low-level, nonviolent drug 
offenders with crimes that entail mandatory minimum sentences.

The Obama administration has said it is working to correct the legacy 
of an old sentencing structure that subjected offenders to long 
prison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more 
lenient sentences to those caught with the powder form of the drug. 
Many of the crack convicts have been black, while those convicted of 
powder offenses have been more likely to be white.

The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced that disparity and eliminated 
a five-year mandatory minimum for first-time possession of crack, but 
the law did not extend to offenders who had been sentenced before the 
law was approved. Officials are now turning their attention to 
identifying inmates who received sentences under the old sentencing guidelines.

U-T news services

Staff writer Kristina Davis contributed to this report.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom