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Inmate releases begin under new guidelines

By Jerry Seper
March 4, 2008

The federal government yesterday freed the first of what could be thousands of federal inmates convicted on crack-cocaine charges to benefit from amended U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines that retroactively reduced their sentences.

Four federal inmates in Virginia were the first to see freedom, taking advantage of the retroactivity of the commission amendment in December that set March 3 as the initial release date. However, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey wants Congress to stop the releases.

Of the 19,500 offenders eligible nationwide for reductions in their sentences, the largest share of them — 1,944 — are in federal prisons in Virginia. Other judicial districts with high numbers are Texas with 1,677; Florida, 1,456; Illinois, 997; and North Carolina, 972. Those eligible for early release in Maryland total 279, while the District has 269 persons eligible under the guidelines.

The amended guidelines came in the wake of a 7-2 ruling in early December by the U.S. Supreme Court saying federal judges could issue shorter prison terms than federal guidelines recommended in cocaine cases — addressing a sentencing disparity for crack- and powder-cocaine convictions widely considered to be more punitive for blacks.

The seven-member commission voted several days after the court's decision to amend federal sentencing guidelines under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which authorized the commission to provide for retroactive effect of amendments that result in lower penalties for certain offenses or offenders.

Congress has six months during which it can reverse any of the recommendations or make them law, even though the panel's decisions to free crack offenders take effect in the interim.

Of the 19,500 eligible inmates, as many as 3,800 could be released within the next 15 months.

Mr. Mukasey has opposed the retroactive review of cases, saying it could result in the release of inmates to communities not prepared to deal with them. He has described those eligible for reduced sentences as some of the "most serious and violent offenders" in the federal system.

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