The first batch of over 40,000 federal prisoners with reduced sentences – nearly 6,000 of them – will be released at the end of October, according to justice department officials.
With a Nov. 1 deadline from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the release will be the first batch and largest single release of federal convicts in the country’s history.
The move aligns with the Obama administration’s goal of reducing the number of drug offenders inside American prisons, where the commission voted to cut drug sentences by two years in average, likely affecting nearly 46,000 out of 100,000 cases.
About one-third of inmates who will be released are foreign nationals set to be deported. Others are placed in halfway houses or under home confinement, where a probation officer will supervise them post-release.
Sentencing Commission spokesman Matt Osterrieder said that an additional 8,550 prisoners will be eligible for the same prison release in 2016, although not all cases will be approved.
State prisoners will not be covered by this new legislation, which will cover only some 200,000 individuals in federal custody.
The decision is now “long overdue,” said Mary Price, general counsel for Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
“We are very confident this is the right thing to do and the public is not going to be unduly harmed by these releases,” Price argued, adding that if they were sentenced today the affected prisoners would be subjected to “significantly shorter terms” of imprisonment.
However, some groups expressed their concerns about the decision and how it could worsen the crime rates in major cities.
According to Jon Adler, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association president, the move is “violent by virtue of the drugs” the convicts sell, which they believe is concurrent with the jump in criminal activities and mass shootings. Adler called it a “fatal mistake” that leads to a “larger American graveyard.”
The justice department sticks to its support for sentencing reform for low-level drug offenses. While not limited to non-violent offenders, the study of each release is approved by a federal judge, who will decide if the person is not a public safety threat.
Judge approvals are currently at 75 percent of total release requests, added the spokesman of the commission.
Last week, a bipartisan group of senators announced legislation to reduce mandatory minimum jail sentences, with a hearing expected to take place this October.
Photo: Rennett Stowe | Flickr
