“You fill out all this paperwork, they just push you out.”

July 11, 2016 5:49 AM

One year out: On July 13, 2015, President Obama commuted the prison sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders. Here’s what their lives are like now. [The Washington Post] Few aspects of the Obama administration have been uncontroversial. Yet releasing 348 people from prison early provoked remarkably little criticism. To date, President Obama has commuted more sentences than his seven predecessors combined; when the president granted clemency to 46 nonviolent drug offenders last July, many of whom were sentenced under laws that no longer exist, critics mostly complained that he hadn’t let more people go free.
posted by Fizz (14 comments total)

These are really difficult to read. Very heart-felt and emotional. Sucker punches to the emotions.

I was not in prison 24 hours when I watched a guy get stabbed to death on his bed. That changes a person. I still have my flashbacks. I’m not as social as I used to be. I used to be a people person, and I don’t want to be around people. I didn’t align with anyone because I was always by myself. You have a lion and a sheep. Me, I was no sheep. I went in with the attitude that I wasn’t going to let anyone change me or let me be anyone different, but prison changes a person. You have to do what you have to do to survive. What I did was read over 5,000 books. Read Edgar Allan Poe, read biographies, read Frederick Douglass. Anything that had to deal with strengthening the mind or making you a better person.

And this one:

I did catch one break. The counselor from Goodwill called me one day and said that Bic Corporation was hiring through a temp service. On its job application, Bic asks if you’ve been convicted of a felony in the last seven years. For me, technically the answer was no. I had been convicted in 2007. I got the position, but it’s temporary, and every day, I worry that I’ll get a phone call from the company saying, “We have to let you go — we can’t employ a convicted felon.” At every turn, it seems, my old crime remains an obstacle to building a new life. I’m not asking for a handout; I’m just looking for help to get on my feet.

posted by Fizz at 6:06 AM on July 11, 2016 [10 favorites]

It looks like the Democratic platform may have a very tentative nod towards drug legalization as a small win for the Sanders delegates, but if Clinton actually embraced that as an issue, would be very interesting. I wonder whether Trump wouldn't just go along -- a lot of people out there who might turn out, or even change their vote, because of legalization, but how many people actually care enough about continuing prohibition to affect coming out to vote or for whom they vote?
posted by MattD at 6:58 AM on July 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

How we treat convicted felons, especially nonviolent offenses, says so much about the American penal system. There is absolutely no sense of rehabilitation if we continue to make it impossible for people to live and work once they get out of prison. It's basically punishment for life, the only difference is the location in which you're being punished.
posted by xingcat at 7:25 AM on July 11, 2016 [29 favorites]

348? That seems like a very low-ball number.
posted by acb at 7:28 AM on July 11, 2016

I wonder whether Trump wouldn't just go along -- a lot of people out there who might turn out, or even change their vote, because of legalization, but how many people actually care enough about continuing prohibition to affect coming out to vote or for whom they vote?

Trump would probably only go along if it legalisation was for white drug users only, with non-whites losing their liberty if they ever appeared to be anything but entirely sober in public. (Sort of like the Nixon/Reagan powdered-cocaine/crack dichotomy, only without the plausibly-deniable dogwhistling and more of a “refreshing honesty” about being racist AF.)
posted by acb at 7:31 AM on July 11, 2016

TBH a lot of "legalisation" already seems to lean that way.
posted by Artw at 7:35 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

TBH a lot of "legalisation" already seems to lean that way.

Starting with the fact that it takes the President to actually release a lot of these people from jail when their crime becomes legal, continuing with the fact that apparently their crimes are not expunged from their records... Yeah, legalisation is great, and I'm glad it's happening, but the current pushes have not been all that great at delivering justice for those imprisoned under unjust laws.

Of course, my cynical side is saying that even the limited legalisation we're seeing now would have been impossible if it actually attempted to address past wrongs, precisely because Americans like the racist outcomes of our existing drug laws.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:41 AM on July 11, 2016

348? That seems like a very low-ball number.

It is a low number relative to the stated scope of Obama's clemency initiative. It's better than nothing but there are a number of roadblocks impeding the thousands more who meet the criteria (10 years served, no history of violence, no gang affiliations, would have been sentenced to less time today) from also being released. Part of the problem was using volunteer attorneys to screen applicants, part of the problem was the cumbersome process for gathering the required records from different agencies, part of the problem is that the Office of the Pardon Attorney is part of the DOJ, which prosecuted the clemency applicants and therefore has an inherent conflict of interest along with being chronically understaffed. And that's not even getting at the many thousands of inmates who are probably deserving of release but don't meet the current criteria. Anyway, hopefully at the end of Obama's term there will be many many more people released. Without better re-entry programs though, god only knows how people are going to make it.
posted by bepe at 9:16 AM on July 11, 2016 [4 favorites]

Maryland has a pre-release mediation program, the goal is to prevent recidivism, and with each 2 hour facilitated meeting some acclimation and reality-checking occurs. There is so much that needs to be done....
posted by childofTethys at 10:21 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

The government at first granted me $16 a month for three months. After that they just kept denying me.

Is there a missing zero or two there, or is that the actual amount? That just seems absurdly low.
posted by ymgve at 10:30 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

348 down, 2.5 million (or so) to go!
posted by Slinga at 1:58 PM on July 11, 2016

348 down, 2.5 million (or so) to go!

FWIW, and you may know this, but the president only has pardon/commutation power over federal inmates, which is "only" 200,000 people. Still a long way to go to make a real dent in that number, of course. I think there are a couple thousand people still in the processing stages of this particular clemency push. As one of the volunteer clemency attorneys with a number of clients in the waiting stages, I have a personal interest in seeing the program get moving.

Anyway, great article. I wish those people the best.
posted by bepe at 2:15 PM on July 11, 2016 [4 favorites]

It's tragic that the editors couldn't track down all 46 of those recently released. I hope that of those who couldn't be contacted it's because they want their privacy, but I'm not optimistic.

I'm a little bit surprised by how many of these people went to jail leaving young children behind.

Also, I can see both sides, but the deck is still stacked against those who've served their time and just want to be a contributing member of society again.
posted by porpoise at 2:53 PM on July 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Because I have a felony, I am not eligible to eat. [In North Carolina and several other states, certain felony convictions bar people from receiving food stamps.]

This made me so sad, but at least the situation appears to be improving.
posted by nev at 3:49 PM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]