6,000 Federal Prisoners to be Released; Drug-Related Sentences Reduced

Revelation 9:20-21 "The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts."

6,000 prisoners will begin to be released on October 30th and that is only the beginning in an attempt to relieve the massive overcrowding in Federal prisons.  This is the largest release of prisoners at one time in an effort to provide relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past three decades, according to U.S. officials.

The early release was prompted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s decision in July 2014 that reduced the punishment for drug offenders and made that decision retroactive.  

Close to 50,000 federal inmates locked up on drug charges will be eligible for reduced sentences. The new sentencing guidelines took effect on Nov. 1, 2014.

Most of the soon to be released prisoners are already in halfway houses and home confinement.  

“The Department of Justice strongly supports sentencing reform for low-level, non-violent drug offenders,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement. “The Sentencing Commission’s actions — which create modest reductions for drug offenders — is a step toward these necessary reforms.”

Each case will reviewed by a federal judge in the district in which the inmate’s case was tried in order to determine whether it would be beneficial to public safety to grant the prisoner early release.

According to The Sentencing Commission an additional estimated 8,550 inmates would be eligible for release between this Nov. 1 and Nov. 1, 2016.

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