-By Warner Todd Huston
The federal Bureau of Prisons has announced the release of nearly 6,000 prisoners in an effort, the agency says, to reduce prison overcrowding. But one Senator is warning that many violent offenders will end up being released early.
Officials say that the releases will begin later this month and will be just the beginning of “tens of thousands” of early releases.
The plans were initiated by the U.S. Sentencing Commission which recently lowered the maximum sentences for offenders last year. The new sentencing rules were made retroactive to all current inmates.
The new rules, being called “drugs minus two,” could reduce the sentencing of as many as 46,000 convicted criminals. Supporters say the rules should affect the sentences only of non-violent offenders.
But Senate Judiciary Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley (R, IA) criticized the new rules saying that thousands of violent felons could also be released out into the public.
One does have to wonder why the new rules had to be retroactive? It seems an expensive burden to put on the judiciary to have to review over 40,000 cases, doesn’t it?
In any case, others say the new rules are much needed.
“Today’s announcement is nothing short of thrilling because it carries justice,” said Jesselyn McCurdy, a senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Far too many people have lost years of their lives to draconian sentencing laws born of the failed drug war. People of color have had to bear the brunt of these misguided and cruel policies. We are overjoyed that some of the people so wronged will get their freedom back.”
The new sentencing, though, is not automatic. The new rules will require judges to review every single qualifying case and review them to determine whether the inmate should be released.
It was also reported that one-third of those being released are non-citizens who will be turned over to immigration authorities.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing news, opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that wrote articles on U.S. history for several American history magazines. Huston is a featured writer for Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart News, and he appears on such sites as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, Wizbang.com, and many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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