Saturday, June 14, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
Clemency: The Historical Tradition
The Clemency Report is a site I recently found that has lots of current information about clemency that will interest those of us whose lives depend on it.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
The Feds Say: Don't You Dare Call Marijuana Medicine
This article is worth reading. It explains hypocracy and nueance in the
Criminal Justice System
The Feds Say: Don't You Dare Call Marijuana Medicine
Monday, May 19, 2014
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Friday, May 16, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Friday, April 4, 2014
Life for Pot – Release Nonviolent Drug
Offenders
100 Hale Rd, Zanesville, OH. 43701
March
10, 2014
Dear
Congressman ----
Reform of our Criminal Justice System needs to be
one of the primary concerns for Congress.
Our Justice is too harsh, too unevenly enforced, and too haphazard in its
prosecution and sentencing.
As the Senate and the House consider and pass
sentencing reform bills that will give sentencing relief to future defendants
and even a select group of those presently incarcerated, this will not remedy
the harshness of the penalty for many presently incarcerated who received the
brunt of the excesses of our costly War on Drugs.
This is the group of non-violent drug offenders who were given sentences of Life without Parole or de facto Life
without Parole for non-violent drug offenses.
These are non-violent citizens who will die in Federal Prison for offenses
that will not be charged or sentenced in the same manner in the future.
We are advocating for those who have no violence in
their case and no violence in their past.
These individuals were harshly sentenced because they were aggressively
charged with conspiracy and also
exercised their sixth amendment right
to trial.
Even though these inmates are non-violent, they are
typically held for years in High Security Federal Facilities simply because of
the length of their sentences. This is
an egregious waste of Federal dollars and an affront to justice.
After Deputy Coles remarks to the NY Bar asking for
suggestion for the problem of over incarceration, Life for Pot sent the
enclosed “Suggestion” to President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and
Deputy Attorney General James Cole
The
“Suggestion” is for a systemic or group clemency for this group.
We would ask Congress to consider passing
legislation that would grant retroactive sentencing relief to this same group
of individuals.
The war on drugs has
impacted so many families in such a harsh manner that many of us will not see
justice until the sentencing of Life without Parole or de facto Life without
Parole for non-violent drug offenders has been rectified.
We are enclosing the Suggestion that was sent to the
President and The Department of Justice.
Sincerely,
Beth Curtis
Life for Pot
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
LIFE FOR POT – RELEASE NONVIOLENT DRUG
OFFENDERS
100
Hale Rd. Zanesville, OH. 43701
http://www.lifeforpot.com
March 8, 2014
Honorable Patti B Saris
Chairman
United States Sentencing Commission
One Columbus Circle, N.E.
Suite 2-500, South Lobby
Washington, D.C. 20002-8002
Re: Comments
Dear Judge Saris:
Life for Pot has the focused cause of advocating
for sentencing relief for nonviolent drug offenders who have been sentenced to
Life without Parole in the Federal System for nonviolent marijuana
offenses. We expand our advocacy to all
nonviolent drug offenders who have been sentenced to Life without Parole.
Life without parole for marijuana is a
particularly inappropriate sentence in light of the changing attitude toward
this drug. Many states have legalized
the use of this plant by various degrees and two states have legalized
recreational use. This situation precipitates
a particularly ludicrous dilemma. If the
Justice Department prosecutes individuals in these states that have some degree
of legalization, it is defying the will of the residents of the state. If it does not prosecute individuals
violating the Federal prohibition, it makes a mockery of Federal Law.
It is unfathomable that marijuana is on the
Controlled Substance Act Schedule and even more unscientific that it is a Schedule
I drug. It is inappropriate that nonviolent
marijuana offenders are being sentenced to die in federal prison chained to a
hospital bed for a nonviolent marijuana offense.
I would like to be able to talk about this
sentencing relief in a theoretical and rational way describing how a tweak here
and a nuance there will show the way toward solving the problem, but on a human
level, that is not possible.
We have non-violent federal inmates serving
these unconscionable sentences who are in their senior years. If these laws and sentences are simply parsed
and slowly adjusted, it will not speak to a fair and just sentence for these
inmates. Their time is running out and
the runway is short.
The decisions for release should not be in
the domain of the BOP. These nonviolent
offenders are placed in high security facilities in the federal system on the
basis of the length of their sentences.
In spite of years of incarceration without an incident many remain at
this security level. The BOP has no
incentive to reduce the security level, and have not demonstrated that they
have any interest in other circumstances that would make inmates eligible for
relief.
History demonstrates that The Justice
Department also needs the inmate population and mandatory sentencing to expand
the scope of its authority. Perhaps
attitudes are changing, but our senior inmates cannot wait.
The only way to restore our faith in mercy
and justice is a grand, dramatic, bold suggestion. It is the right thing to do.
Thank you for your work and for taking time
to read these comments. We trust that
you will work toward the restoration of justice in sentencing reform
Yours,
Beth Curtis
Director
Life for Pot
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Life for Pot - Release Nonviolent Drug Offenders
100 Hale Road,
Zanesville, Ohio 43701 ph. # 740 452 2867
To: President Barack Obama
Attorney General Eric Holder
Deputy Attorney General James Cole
February
18, 2014
Dear
President Obama,
This
suggestion is in response to the speech given by Deputy Attorney James Cole at
the New York State Bar Association Meeting on January 30, 2014.
Grant a systemic
or group Presidential Clemency to a unique category of nonviolent federal
inmates. This group would be nonviolent
drug offenders serving sentences of life without parole or de facto life
without parole (attached is an example of such a group clemency).
There
is a crisis in the Criminal Justice System caused by harsh and outdated
sentencing. The ACLU spotlighted the
incarceration of non-violent offenders serving sentences of life without parole
in their report of November 13 2013, A Living Death: Life without Parole for
Nonviolent Offenses. Since its
inception, FAMM has been cautioning about the consequences of harsh sentencing
and mandatory minimum sentences
There
is a common thread running through these nonviolent life without parole
sentences.
1. It seems that a high percentage of these
offenders exercised their sixth amendment right to trial and received a many
fold sentencing enhancement for this decision,
2. Another frequent element in these life
sentences for nonviolent drug offenders is that they were charged and
prosecuted for conspiracy with only cooperating witnesses and informants giving
testimony.
3. Most of these inmates were sentenced
under mandatory minimums and they are aging in place having already served
considerable time.
I
trust that this suggestion will be given thoughtful consideration. It is heartfelt and comes from one who has
become familiar with many of these nonviolent citizens.
This
is a solution for healing the wounds of the war on drugs and people and
will also begin to end the incarceration of non-violent drug offenders.
To: President Barack Obama
Attorney General Eric Holder
Deputy Attorney General James Cole
A
SUGGESTION FOR ADDRESSING OUR PROPENSITY FOR OVERINCARCERATION: CLEMENCY AND
THE WAR ON DRUGS
Grant
a systemic or group Presidential Clemency to a unique category of nonviolent
federal inmates. This group would be
nonviolent drug offenders serving sentences of life without parole or de facto
life without parole.
Model
this clemency on the clemency granted by President Gerald Ford and President
Jimmy Carter who gave clemency to those who had violated the Selective Service
Act during the War in Viet Nam. The War
on Drugs has been an equally divisive war imprisoning a generation of men and
women.
Our prolonged War on Drugs has left this country
with a legacy of thousands of nonviolent offenders serving sentences that may
very well mean death behind prison walls.
There are children, wives, husbands, parents and siblings who long to
have their loved ones home again.
Moreover this War continues to cost billions of tax dollars to support a
policy that is at best suspect and losing the support of citizens it is
designed to keep safe.
The public is no longer complacent about the
sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and cocaine. This disparity has exposed a highly
discriminatory distinction that has led to egregious sentencing for some of the
country’s most vulnerable citizens.
At the present time, the legal status of marijuana
is being challenged state by state. The
cruel irony is that every year there are 700,000 to 800,000 local, state and
federal arrests for marijuana that most of the population sees as no more
harmful than alcohol. This is evidenced
by the fact that marijuana is now being legalized across the country state by
state at a staggering rate.
If the covenant between those who govern and the
citizens who are governed is to be maintained, the costly experiment of the War
on Drugs needs to be seriously addressed.
This suggestion is modeled on a solution that
resolved the legal status of offenders in an equally divisive war, The War in
Viet Nam. Using the power of the
president for systemic pardoning is nothing new. It’s been done frequently since our country’s
first president - George Washington.
We urge the president to use the model of President
Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. After
President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon on September 16, 1970 he initiated a
Clemency Program for those who violated the Selective Act. Ford granted 1,731 pardons to civilians,
those who evaded the draft and 11,872 to military personnel, those who went AWOL. President Jimmy Carter expanded the clemency
healing many wounds and bringing thousands of young men back into the fold of
citizenship.
Our criminal justice system needs a cleansing to
restore faith in the integrity and justness of our law. Non Violent marijuana offenders who have received
life without parole or de facto life sentences for marijuana only offenses
could be granted a group commutation after a significant number of years served
– be it ten years or some other designation.
It could be commutation for those who had served 10 years and or reached
the age of 60.
We are warehousing non-violent old men and women
whose offense was selling a substance that is being reevaluated and legalized.
Nonviolent crack offenders could be addressed in the
same manner. Commute crack sentences
when time served equals the time of incarceration for same weight cocaine
offenses.
Systemic
clemency has been used frequently throughout the history of our country. This is a Presidential tool and responsibility
that is usually used to restore justice when retribution has caused a rift in
the social fabric. The war on drugs is
our contemporary example of this excess.
Alexander Hamilton (Federalist
#74) Presidential Power
“Humanity
and good policy conspire to dictate that the benign prerogative of pardoning
should be as little possible fettered or embarrassed. The criminal code of every country partakes
so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in
favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and
cruel.”
Friday, February 21, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
Grits for Breakfast: Judge: Cameron County corruption beggars belief
Grits for Breakfast: Judge: Cameron County corruption beggars belief: On New Year's Day, the Valley Morning Star published an extensive account of judicial and prosecutorial corruption in a story tiled &quo...
Thursday, January 9, 2014
life for pot release non violent marijuana prisoners
NON-VIOLENT INMATES SERVING SENTNECES OF LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR MARIJUANA
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Farewell 2013 !
P.S. Ruckman at Pardon Power with statistics about his blog. This is a great blog to check for all information about Clemency.
Farewell 2013 !
Farewell 2013 !
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