By Jessica Gresko
Chicago Sun-Times
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Antwain Black was facing a few more years in Leavenworth for dealing crack. But on Tuesday, he was on his way home to Springfield, Ill., a free man.
Black, 36, was among the first inmates who are being released early from federal prison because of an easing of the harsh penalties for crack that were enacted in the 1980s, when the drug was a terrifying new phenomenon in America’s cities.
The 1980s-era laws punished crack-related crimes much more severely than those involving powdered cocaine — a practice criticized as racially discriminatory because most of those convicted of crack offenses were black.
More recently, the penalties for crack were reduced to bring them more in line with those for powder, and Tuesday was the first day inmates locked up under the old rules could get out early.
Black pleaded guilty in 2003 and was sentenced to 15 years. With changes in the law, good behavior and credit for time served in jail, he was freed after 81/2 years.
Some 12,000 prisoners are expected to benefit over the next several years, with an estimated 1,900 eligible for immediate release as of Tuesday. On average, inmates will get three years shaved off their sentences. The reductions do not apply to people found guilty of crack offenses under state laws.
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