In a long awaited decision, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously last week to retroactively reduce prison sentences for people convicted of crimes related to the possession and sale of crack cocaine.
Preliminary estimates are that as many as 20,000 inmates - most of them poor African Americans - could be released from federal prison within the next few months.
For nearly 20 years, civil rights and other activist groups have been demanding a reduction in the federal sentencing guidelines as they relate to the possession and sale of crack cocaine because of the so-called 100-to-1 disparity.
Under the old guidelines, a person convicted of possessing just 50 grams of crack cocaine faced a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence while it took possession of 5,000 grams of powdered cocaine to receive the same sentence.
Activists argued that the sentencing disparity amounted to racial discrimination because crack cocaine was primarily used in low-income predominantly Black areas while powder cocaine was disproportionately used by middle to upper income suburban whites. The facts tended to support theie argument. For example, the most recent government figures show that roughly 85 percent of all federal inmates incarcerated for crack cocaine offences are Black. The Bush administration was opposed to the sentencing reduction but liberal Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy said he welcomed the 7-to-0 vote by the Sentencing Commission.
The new procedure for freedom will involve federal inmates having to file petitions requesting that their sentences be reviewed in light of the new ruling. It could be several months before inmates are actually freed.
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