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Tens of thousands of people are in federal prison - sometimes for
life - for low-level nonviolent drug offenses.
Weldon
Angelos is one of the many victims of these draconian laws. He is
serving 55 years for selling small amounts of marijuana while
possessing guns that weren't displayed or used. He was 24 years old and it was
only his first arrest. Even the judge in his case thought the sentence was
"cruel, unjust and
irrational."
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik
Tens of
thousands of people are in federal prison -- sometimes for life -- for
low-level nonviolent drug offenses.
But
with your help, we can roll back the disastrous mandatory minimum sentencing
policies that put so many people behind bars. We’re working with the
Senate to change these laws, and that’s why we need you to tell your Senators to support
reform of mandatory minimum drug laws now!
Weldon Angelos is one of the many victims of
these draconian laws. He is serving 55 years for selling small amounts
of marijuana while possessing guns that weren’t displayed or used. He was 24
years old and it was only his first arrest. He’s been in prison for 10 years and
will remain there for the next 45 years. That means he’ll be 80 years old before
he can go home to his children, sister and father. Even the judge in his case thought it was a
“cruel, unjust and irrational” sentence.
The drug war is ruining the lives of tens of
thousands of people like Weldon Angelos. It’s especially infuriating when you
consider that people convicted of nonviolent drug law violations can receive
much longer sentences than people convicted of rape and murder.
These
harsh sentences, which mostly apply to drug offenses, have significantly
contributed to our country’s appalling mass incarceration problem. It’s laws
like these that result in the United States leading the world in incarceration,
with less than five percent of the world’s population but almost twenty-five
percent of the world’s prisoners.
There
is something fundamentally wrong with this equation. But there’s hope. Between
several reform bills in Congress and the Obama administration’s directive to
scale back mandatory minimums, we have a real chance to roll back these
draconian sentencing laws.
That’s
why your Senators need to hear from you now. Time
is of the essence: pressure your Senators to end the cruel and wasteful practice
of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug law violations.
We’re working with a broad coalition of
criminal justice reform and civil rights allies to finally get this legislation
passed. There’s a promising chance that we can win this. But we can’t do it
without your help.
Our mandatory minimum sentencing laws have
done much more harm than good. The human, moral and fiscal costs are too great.
You can help us fix our broken criminal
justice system -- take action today!
Sincerely,
Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance
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