Prisoner Profile Archives

“A Good Man!” When Sentencing Enhancements Add 45 Years

Thursday, January 13, 2022

“My roots weren’t strong, and when the storms of life came, I couldn’t hold on,” says Charles Scott, currently serving more than 51 years in federal prison – 45 of which are “stacked” mandatory enhancements. Read More

Shouldn’t There Be a Place for Redemption?

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Too many people in Pennsylvania are serving long prison terms that don’t make communities safer. There are plenty of people locked up like Terrell Carter, who do not pose a risk to public safety yet languish in prison for decades because Pennsylvania’s laws don’t give... Read More

Keep Them Home: Travis’ Story

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

At this moment, thousands of people safely completing their sentences at home are living in fear that they’ll be sent back to federal prison through no fault of their own. A memo from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued in the final days of... Read More

A Racist Disparity, the EQUAL Act, and One Man’s Redemption

Monday, August 23, 2021

The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced the disparity in sentencing for crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses from 100:1 to 18:1. But true justice won’t come until the ratio is 1:1. Until then, thousands of people, more than 80 percent of them Black, remain... Read More

Behind Bars and Starving to Death: The Urgent Need for Medical Parole

Friday, June 25, 2021

What happens when someone in prison gets very sick and there is no mechanism in place for the system to allow for compassion? That’s the situation that Joseph Palmer and his family are in right now. They – and many others like them – urgently... Read More

If the Law Is Wrong Now, It Was Wrong Then: The Case for First Step Act Retroactivity

Thursday, June 24, 2021

The First Step Act helped thousands of people get shorter, fairer sentences. But as its name makes clear, it was just a start. Too many people have been left behind simply because of the date they were sentenced. The First Step Implementation Act would reunite... Read More

When Addiction Leads to 30 Years Behind Bars

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

“I am not saying that I am innocent. I did some really foolish things and failed to reach out for help for my addiction. I broke my mother’s heart.” Celeste Blair’s path from childhood trauma to addiction to prison is all too common. At the... Read More

How an Unloaded BB Gun Got a Teenager 33 Years

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

15 – Nick Robinson’s age when he was arrested 17 – Nick’s age when he was sent to an adult prison 33 – The number of years of his sentence 28 – How old Nick is now 2037 – The year he will be released Read More

The Crack-Powder Disparity: It’s Time for Justice

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

In 2010, the Fair Sentencing Act reduced the crack-powder disparity in sentencing from 100:1 to 18:1. Lawmakers acknowledged that crack cocaine is no more addictive than powder and is not more likely to cause violent crime. Also true is that lengthy mandatory minimum prison terms... Read More

Retroactivity Needed Now to Right an Unfair Sentence

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Brian Keys is ten years into a 15-year sentence for selling drugs in a school zone, his first felony. Remarkably, he now has the support of the judge who sentenced him, plus the sheriff of the county where Brian was arrested. Both of them see... Read More

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