(CNN)The biggest federal inmate release on record will take place this weekend.
About 6,600 inmates will be released, with 16,500 expected to get out the first year. More than 40,000 federal felons could be released early over the next several years, the U.S. Sentencing Commission said.
The sentencing commission decided a year ago to lower maximum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and to make the change retroactive, with the inmate releases effective November 1, 2015. Sentences were reduced an average of 18%, the commission said.
Nothing says liberal compassion like releasing law breaking thugs on the innocent in society.
Just what we need…more urine soaked drug houses in our neighborhoods.
Never encountered the demon weed in all your cruising, Kevin?
kevin:
So how do you explain Scott Jensen never even coming to trail> And the guy that let him loose is now our AG. Hypocritical, or just willfully ignorant?
I’m all for it. I wish we had never started the war on drugs nor lost our minds with minimum sentencing laws in the 80s. It’s the reason why we lead the world in incarceration.
Considering that these thugs will be released to into ghetto areas, that will only cause more problems.
Further, they didn’t get sentenced to federal prison because they were lighting up a joint- most were convicted of selling drugs- the feds don’t usually bother with possession charges.
Just more evidence that your local neighborhood liberal along with liberal politicians are also closet racists.
The drug laws make no sense .
In the 20’s people died daily to get and keep the rights to sell an illegal substance for profit
I don’t see anyone getting killed over a Budweiser distribution business because the undustry is regulated .
Grass is illegal , except where it isn’t , or where you can get it for medical purposes .
Cocaine is illegal but you are sentenced differently depending on what type you use
They all should be regulated just as alcohol is to eliminate the violence and profit motive of the real Bad guys .
I’ve seen the effects of legal and illegal drugs at meetings for 35 years . The results are the same , even though the legality of the items abused differs widely .
Just my opinion .
“they didn’t get sentenced to federal prison because they were lighting up a joint-”
Actually a surprising number probably did. There’s your three strikes laws in action. Have a record? Have a joint? Done.
Besides, I don’t care if you did get busted with 2 oz of weed. Nobody should go to prison for that, period.
Umm, scott, the Feds do not have a 3 strikes rule though some states do.
And since all the thugs released were federal prisoners, then they had to do some serious crimes. The feds don’t really care about a joint, though they do care about sellers and distributors of the drugs.
To Mark, you are talking about State laws, and we are talking about Federal law. Get a clue.
Dan ,
If the federal convicts are the sellers and distribution , my point remains the same.
Get them out of that business .
Dan, you seem to know a lot about it. What do you propose we do to reform an obviously destructive, expensive and unfair system?
John,
That would be a “no”.
My life is too fast paced to have the time for doing something so stupid.
Umm, scott, why is it unfair?
The laws are on the books, people know the rules, and they choose to break the laws.
It really is that simple.
To bad you cannot comprehend something so simple.
But let’s play your game.
Let’s release Bernie Madoff.
All he did was hurt a bunch of millionaires.
He wasn’t violent.
So, what’s the harm? Release Bernie.
The punishment should be commensurate with the crime. Further, laws like these should benefit the community, make it safer and more prosperous–not decimate it and impoverish it.
We put too many people behind bars for too long. That’s pretty simple, too.
I bet Scott’s neighborhood is less than 2% black.
So, drug pushers don’t hurt the community?
They don’t commit other crimes and encourage others to commit violent crime?
Drug cartels are not violent?
And I do agree with you on your first point and I agree laws should help to make communities prosperous but drug pushers and illegal drugs in local communities hurt the communities rather than help them.
Make them legal and they are no or more less harmful than alcohol and there won’t be any local criminal “drug dealers”
Of course, Mark, you live on Fantasy Island.
Crack not worse than booze?
Heroin the same as taking a drink?
Crank and bath salts are helpful to a community?
And again, the people in prison, most have committed other crimes or these are major drug dealers.
But I think if you release these criminals, you would have no problem releasing white collar criminals like a Bernie Madoff, who just stole from some rich people and didn’t physically hurt anyone.
Dan, the issue isn’t whether crack is more harmful than alcohol. The issue is whether our current laws and criminal justice response to crack is worse than legalizing it. I’m not sure what the answer is on that one, but that is the question. Me, I might be willing to see some drugs remain illegal to possess and use. I’m not sure.
I do believe that some of the powerful genies we’ve released through medical science are inevitably going to create these kind of problems. It’s a shame we don’t have a smarter way of dealing with them. The price of having opiate drugs are that some people are going to become addicted to them. Sure there are things we can do to minimize that risk, but it’s going to happen. Acting like these unfortunate souls are Bad People who should be left to rot in prison is a travesty.
Things like marijuana are a lot easier. It should be legal for anyone 21 years or older to buy, possess and use just like alcohol is.