New sentencing rules for crack-related crimes may free 10 prisoners
Eventually about 100 inmates in Middle Tennessee may be eligible for early release
New sentencing guidelines that reduce prison terms for crack-related crimes could result in freedom soon for as many as 10 prisoners and eventually for about 100 others in Middle Tennessee who may be eligible for early release under the new federal rules.
Sumter Camp, a federal public defender, said the courts should release the prisoners who undeservedly received lengthy sentences.
"The ones that are going to be released immediately should not have gotten as much time in the first place," Camp said.
There are no court hearings scheduled in Nashville's U.S. District Court, but petitions for lesser sentences will be coming in, said Edward Yarbrough, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Monday was the first day the new guidelines went into effect. Statewide, there are more than 600 inmates eligible for a lesser sentence, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Nationwide, nearly 20,000 qualify.
Federal authorities are identifying prisoners who are eligible for a sentence reduction, Yarbrough said.
"So far nobody has been released in Tennessee," he said. "Any reports of that would be a little premature."
The U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously voted Dec. 11 to reduce the penalty retroactively for some crack offenses.
It was the crack epidemic — at its height in the 1980s — that prompted the federal mandatory minimums for drug offenses. Five grams of crack would send a person to prison for five years.
Since then, fiery debates have raged about the racial disparity between sentences handed down to blacks for crack offenses and the whites busted with cocaine in powdered form.
Prior to this new sentence reduction, a person with a gram of crack would receive the same sentences as someone with 100 grams of powdered cocaine, Camp said. It has been termed the 100 to 1 ratio and has been seen as discriminatory because blacks make up a majority of crack-related offenses.
"You have (drug) dealers getting more time than suppliers," Camp said. "You get into situations where white defendants are selling large quantities to black drug dealers who turn it into rock."
U.S. attorneys opposed
U.S attorneys in Middle and East Tennessee, who oppose the sentencing commission's decision, say they don't want criminals released on the streets. They also say prosecutors and staff will be burdened with additional work.
"We're concerned about releasing dangerous defendants,'' said Russ Dedrick, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. "We want to ensure the public is protected. We have a very aggressive stance on that."
Prosecutors and advocates for lessening crack-related sentences agree that a prisoner may be eligible for a reduction, but it doesn't mean it will happen. Sentencing on the crack conviction and related offenses may factor in the sentencing, federal prosecutors said.
