by GLEN FORD
November 1 was a very good day for thousands of Americans, 85 percent of them Black. That’s the date when a 2010 law that reduced the disparity between sentences for crack and powder cocaine possession was made retroactive, making some inmates eligible for immediate release and knocking years off the prison time for many others. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has been processing requests for early release from prosecutors, judges and public defenders across the country. Around 12,000 men and women should get some of their lives back – starting right now for nearly 1,900 of them.
The bad news is, the sentence reductions only apply to federal prisoners. Most drug offenders, including for crack, are held in state prisons – but we’ll get to that, a little later.
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