South Carolina Federal Defense Attorneys

A reduction in federal prison sentences for crack cocaine took effect on November first in a move that could release an estimated 12,000 inmates get reearly.

The changes reduce federal penalties for the more addictive crack cocaine to bring them more in line with those for powdered cocaine. The sentencing disparity had long been criticized as racially discriminatory because it disproportionately affected African American defendants.

Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said, “Up to 1,800 inmates are immediately eligible to go free and prison officials are processing a growing number of release orders,”

The pace has picked up in the last couple of weeks and we don’t expect it to abate any time soon,’ he said.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission said they estimate this summer that about 12,000 inmates could be eligible to seek a reduced sentence, with the impact spread over decades. The average reduction sentence per inmate  would be 37 months.

President Barack Obama signed the sentencing changes in 2010. The Sentencing Commission voted this past summer to make the new law apply retroactively to its guidelines.

One Example

Inmate  Stephanie Nodd, who was sentenced in 1990 to 30 years in prison on crack cocaine charges, could be released as soon as this month, claimed her brother Dan Nodd, of Mobile, Alabama.

‘We planned on having a big celebration for her. It would be a day of celebration, a day of jubilation for me,’ he said in a telephone interview.

Ms Nodd, now 44, has five children, and has earned a high school equivalency degree as well as a forklift license while in prison. Her brother said he hopes to help her get a job when she was released.

By: Pete Strom, South Carolina Federal Criminal Defense Attorney