U.S. to free 6,000 federal drug prisoners in nation's largest one-time release

Written By Emily Gray Brosious 

New drug sentencing guidelines will qualify thousands of federal prisoners for early release

The United States Justice Department is preparing to release about 6,000 inmates from federal prisons starting at the end of this month as part of an effort to ease prison overcrowding and reduce harsh sentences given to nonviolent drug offenders in the 1980s and ’90s, as reported by The Washington Post.

This will be the largest one-time discharge of inmates from federal prisons in the nation’s history. About two-thirds of the inmates slated to be released from federal prisons nationwide will go to halfway houses and home confinement before proceeding to supervised release, according to The Washington Post.

About a third of the inmates to be released are undocumented immigrants who will be deported.

The early releases come after the U.S. Sentencing Commission – an independent agency that sets sentencing policies for federal crimes – voted unanimously to reduce punishment for nonviolent drug offenders and made those changes retroactive.

The commission estimates the new drug sentencing guidelines could potentially lead to 46,000 of the nation’s approximately 100,000 drug offenders in federal prisons to qualify for early release.

More from The New York Times:

“Today’s announcement is nothing short of thrilling because it carries justice,” said Jesselyn McCurdy, a senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Far too many people have lost years of their lives to draconian sentencing laws born of the failed drug war. People of color have had to bear the brunt of these misguided and cruel policies. We are overjoyed that some of the people so wronged will get their freedom back.”