WASHINGTON — About 12,000 federal prisoners nationwide may soon go home, some as many as three years early, under a U.S. Sentencing Commission decision to allow retroactive reductions in prison terms for inmates convicted of crack-cocaine offenses.
The commission voted unanimously Thursday to bring “unfairly long sentences” for crack offenders, mostly African-Americans, more in line with shorter terms given to powder cocaine offenders, often white and sometimes affluent.
When the reductions go into effect in November, the average crack sentence will be cut by about 37 months, and the federal Bureau of Prisoners said the reductions could save more than $200 million in the next five years. Nearly 6 percent of the federal inmate population would be released.
The reductions are not automatic. Prisoners must file petitions and are required to show they are no longer a risk to society. Tribune Co. Washington Bureau
