[AicapAifap] Sentencing Reform

[Alliance of Incarcerated Canadians/Foreigners in American Prisons]

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 15, 2017  

	 Contact: Morgan McLeod
 mmcleod at sentencingproject.org
 202-628-0871   Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Bipartisan
Sentencing Reform Bill in 16 to 5 Vote  

	 WASHINGTON, DC – Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley’s
legislation to reduce some federal mandatory minimum sentences for
drug offenses and reform federal prisons passed out of committee this
morning on a bipartisan vote of 16 to 5.   

	 The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 1917) would give
judges greater flexibility in sentencing below a mandatory minimum in
low-level cases and curbing outsized sentences – including life
without parole for a third drug crime. Several of the bill’s
provisions would allow some current prisoners to petition for
retroactive relief, including 3,100 people incarcerated under the old
100 to 1 crack cocaine disparity.    

	 “Today’s strong bipartisan vote challenges the overly punitive
approach the Attorney General has promoted to address the country’s
drug problems,” said Kara Gotsch, Director of Strategic Initiatives
at The Sentencing Project. “Excessive sentences for drug offenses
have never curbed drug epidemics, but instead have diverted needed
resources from prevention to incarceration.”   

	 About half of the federal prison population is serving time for a
drug offense, including many people operating in the lower levels of
the drug trade. Indeed, 48% of individuals receiving a federal drug
sentence in 2009 were at or below the level of “street-level
dealers,” which is defined as selling less than one ounce of drugs. 
  

	 The President’s budget for FY 2019, released this week, projects a
five percent increase in the federal prison population over current
levels.  Moreover, staffing shortages at federal prisons nationwide
have forced medical staff, administrators and kitchen workers to taken
on corrections duties, raising safety concerns. The prison problems
are likely to worsen given the administration’s plan to cut 6,000
positions in federal prisons, including 1,800 openings for
correctional officers.   

	 “Gone unchecked, the federal government’s harsh sentencing
structure frequently applied to convictions for nonviolent offenses
and its underfunded system for rehabilitation exacerbates the fiscal
and humanitarian burdens plaguing the prison system,” wrote Marc
Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, in a letter to
Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein. “The Sentencing Reform
and Corrections Act would take important steps to address this crisis
and help create a more equitable and proportionate criminal justice
system with no adverse impact on public safety.”   

	 ###                     
 The Sentencing Project works for a fair and effective U.S. justice
system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust
racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to
incarceration.  
	 The Sentencing Project
 1705 DeSales Street NW
 8th Floor
 Washington, District of Columbia 20036
 202-628-0871
 staff at sentencingproject.org 
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