By Mike Gallagher
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — More than 500 federal inmates sentenced in New Mexico for drug crimes could be released early over the next six years under changes approved Friday by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, in large part as a strategy for relieving prison overcrowding.
Unless Congress votes to disapprove the change, it will become effective on Nov. 1. Judges throughout the country will have one year to begin holding hearings on inmate requests to reduce sentences under the guidelines.
Judges will have discretion on whether to reduce the sentences.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he will direct the Bureau of Prisons to begin notifying federal inmates of the opportunity to apply for a reduction in sentence immediately.
The commission had already decided, effective Nov. 1, to reduce sentences in the future for certain kinds of nonviolent drug and drug trafficking cases rather than require higher sentences pegged to the amount of drugs.
The commission on Friday voted unanimously to approve the retroactive reductions in federal sentencing guidelines used by U.S. District Court judges.
The Department of Justice initially opposed making the changes retroactive but changed its position this spring.
“In the interest of fairness, it makes sense to apply changes to the sentencing guidelines retroactively, and the idea of a one-year implementation delay will adequately address public safety concerns by ensuring that judges have adequate time to consider whether an eligible individual is an appropriate candidate for a reduced sentence,” Holder said.
Chief U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris of Massachusetts, who chairs the sentencing commission, said in a statement that the commission has a statutory duty to ensure sentencing guidelines minimize federal prison overcrowding.
“Federal prisons are 32 percent overcapacity and 52 percent overcapacity for the highest security facilities,” Saris said in a statement.
According to The Associated Press, a group of former federal prosecutors told the commission in written comments that the move to reduce sentences would lead to higher crime rates.
Two years ago, the commission voted to change the guidelines for prison sentences involving crack cocaine after widespread criticism that the harsher penalties for drug charges involving crack cocaine were racially biased. Those changes are already in effect.
The commission estimates that the new guideline changes will affect up to 51,000 federal inmates around the country over the next six years or more.
The commission estimated that 53 federal inmates sentenced by federal judges in New Mexico would be eligible for reduced sentences in November, assuming the changes take effect Nov. 1. That would increase to 136 next November.
Once mandatory, the sentencing guidelines are used by federal judges to sentence all defendants found guilty of federal crimes either by a jury or by a guilty plea. The judges can make adjustments in individual sentences that don’t follow the guidelines but are required to make detailed justifications for their decisions.
“Making these new guidelines retroactive will offer relief to thousands of people who received overly harsh sentences under the old sentencing guidelines,” said Senior Legislative Counsel Jesselyn McCurdy of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The Sentencing Commission absolutely did the right thing today by putting the power to decide retroactivity in judges’ hands.”
At the time the sentencing guidelines were written, the amount of a specific drug involved in the crime was the only factor considered at sentencing. Since 1991, 14 factors have been added as enhancement to drug sentences such as the use of firearms or violence by the defendant all of which can add time to a prison sentence for narcotics trafficking.