Read PS Ruckman at Pardon Power
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 !
Thursday, November 21, 2013
This is a link to the ACLU call to action. The Report released on Nov 13 spotlights many of the non-violent offenders serving sentences of Life without Parole for marijuana who are on the Life for Pot web site - http://www.lifeforpot.com
Please join the ACLU's effort on behalf of inmates serving sentences of Life without Parole for nonviolent offenses. This is a petition asking the Justice Department to review these sentences.
End the affront to justice
Shoplifting three belts. Siphoning gas from an 18-wheeler. Selling a single crack rock. These are just some of the offenses that can get you sentenced to spend your entire life in prison, until the day you die, with no chance of ever getting out for good behavior.
Thousands of people have been sentenced to die in prison for nonviolent offenses because of overly extreme mandatory sentencing laws that take away judges’ discretion. In case after case we reviewed, the sentencing judge said on the record that he or she opposed the mandatory sentence as too severe but their hands were tied.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Sentencing Project on LWOP and Clemency
P.S. Ruckman's Pardon Power Blog is always
Interesting and Worth the Read
Friday, August 9, 2013
LETTER TO UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION FOR LIFE FOR POT RELEASE NON-VIOLENT MARIJUANA OFFENDERS
FIRST - JUST A LITTLE COMMERCIAL
End Mandatory Minimums and remove marijuana from the
FIRST - JUST A LITTLE COMMERCIAL
End Mandatory Minimums and remove marijuana from the
Schedule of the Controlled Substance Act
We have the right to expect our
government to be fiscally responsible and respect the civil liberties of its
citizens
EVERY YEAR U.S. CITIZENS
VOLUNTARILY PAY TAXES TO THEIR GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE SERVICES FOR THE PUBLIC
GOOD
http://www.lifeforpot.com
LIFE FOR POT
RELEASE NON-VIOLENT MARIJUANA ONLY OFFENDERS
PLEASE REMEMBER $40,000.00 TO $72,000.00
WILL
BE SPENT PER MAN
EACH YEAR TO KEEP
THESE SENIOR NON-VIOLENT MARIJUANA ONLY OFFENDERS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR THE REST OF THEIR
LIVES.
IN
THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
THEY
SHOULD BE RELEASED
http://www.lifeforpot.com
LETTER TO USSC
LETTER TO USSC
Beth Curtis
Life
for Pot
100 Hale Rd
Zanesville, OH. 43701
Ph.# 740 452 2867
July 10, 2013
Att:
Public Affairs Priorities Comment
United
States Sentencing Commission
One
Columbus Circle NE
Suite
2-500 Lobby
Washington
DC 20002-8002
RE:
Sentencing Guidelines for United States Courts
Dear
Chairman Patti Saris and Commission Members,
This testimony is submitted by the
organization LFP – Life for Pot http://www.lifeforpot.com
LFP
has distinct and significant concerns with mandatory minimums. We represent a group of Federal inmates who
were convicted of non-violent, marijuana only offenses who have received Life
without Parole in the federal system.
These
inmates have no violent priors and no violence in their current cases, yet they
are serving sentences that some consider worse than death.
Amendment 1.
Amendment 2.
In
these cases, the controlling length of sentencing should be limited by a
maximum, not a minimum sentence. The
Texas legislature did this by reducing the term for drug and property offenses
from a maximum of 10 years to a maximum of 5 years. Mandatory minimums make no more sense than
mandatory maximums.
Non-violent
marijuana offenders are serving sentences of Life without Parole while Venture
Capitalists and entrepreneurs are developing business plans to manufacture and distribute
the same substance. Marijuana remains as
a schedule I drug as states continue to legalize it in varying degrees. These are difficult contradictions and demean
the system.
Sentencing
for conspiracy is overly broad and encompassing and also too easily prosecuted
when the prosecutor's job is facilitated by sting operations, co-operating
witnesses and mandatory sentencing.
These
sentencing circumstances are not universally respected.
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