Tag Archives: Prisoners

Sheriffs Express Concern Over Release of 6,000 Prisoners

Over 6,000 nonviolent drug offenders are being released early this weekend and sheriffs across the country are concerned for the safety of their citizens.

The release is the largest one-time release of federal inmates in U.S. history, and advocates for the release are saying that it will be handled responsibly. The mass release was a response in a decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to reduce sentences for most drug trafficking offenses, which coincides for a push to rethink federal sentencing, according to Fox News.

But the main concern is how the ex-inmates will adjust.

“There’s no transition here, there’s no safety net. This is the biggest sham they are trying to sell the American people,” Sheriff Paul Babeu of Arizona’s Pinal County told FoxNews.com.

“On average these criminals have been in federal prison for nine years — you don’t have to be a sheriff to realize that a felon after nine years in jail isn’t going to be adding value to the community. A third are illegals and felons so they can’t work. What do we think they are going to do?” said Babeu, also a congressional candidate.

Despite these concerns, the government is providing a transition. 77% of the inmates are already in home confinement or halfway houses, according to the Justice Department. Also, 1,764 of the inmates were handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings. Any one state is to receive the average number of 80 inmates, but Texas will get 597 inmates.

However, sheriffs on the Mexico-U.S. border were skeptical of both the deportation claim and the risk these inmates will bring to their communities.

“If [the Obama administration is] not capable of making honest and prudent decisions in securing our borders, how can we trust them to make the right decision on the release of prisoners who may return to a life of crime?” Sheriff Harold Eavenson of Rockwall County, Texas, told FoxNews.com.

Last month, a review from the Associated Press found that while many of the prisoners were low-level drug dealers, some did have prior convictions for robbery. Others were charged with moving serious drugs like heroin and cocaine. And according to WGME in Maine, one inmate was a former “drug kingpin” who was once on “America’s Most Wanted.”

“For them to tell me or tell citizens that they’re going to do a good job and these inmates are non-violent, when in many instances drug crimes, drug purchasing, drug trafficking are related to other, violent crimes – I’d be amazed if the 6,000 … being released are non-violent,” Eavenson said.

Approximately 46,000 other cases may be reviewed in the future for possible early release.

6,000 Federal Prisoners to be Released; Drug-Related Sentences Reduced

6,000 prisoners will begin to be released on October 30th and that is only the beginning in an attempt to relieve the massive overcrowding in Federal prisons.  This is the largest release of prisoners at one time in an effort to provide relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past three decades, according to U.S. officials.

The early release was prompted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s decision in July 2014 that reduced the punishment for drug offenders and made that decision retroactive.  

Close to 50,000 federal inmates locked up on drug charges will be eligible for reduced sentences. The new sentencing guidelines took effect on Nov. 1, 2014.

Most of the soon to be released prisoners are already in halfway houses and home confinement.  

“The Department of Justice strongly supports sentencing reform for low-level, non-violent drug offenders,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement. “The Sentencing Commission’s actions — which create modest reductions for drug offenders — is a step toward these necessary reforms.”

Each case will reviewed by a federal judge in the district in which the inmate’s case was tried in order to determine whether it would be beneficial to public safety to grant the prisoner early release.

According to The Sentencing Commission an additional estimated 8,550 inmates would be eligible for release between this Nov. 1 and Nov. 1, 2016.

ISIS Releases 200 Captives

The Islamic terrorist group ISIS surprised observers by releasing over 200 Yazidis after keeping them hostages for eight months.

Most of the freed captives were elderly, in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect.  General Hiwa Abdullah told the Associated Press that 40 of the freed captives were children.

The terrorists reportedly gave no reason for the captive’s release.

The captives who were able to speak with reporters shared stories of their captivity and kidnapping.  Jar-Allah Frensis, 88, said the terrorists stormed his home in Sinjar and took him along with his wife and son.

“The militants took all of our money and jewelry. We have been living under constant fear till our release,” Frensis told The Associated Press.

Frensis says he doesn’t know what happened to his son.

ISIS released 200 prisoners in January and the Kurdish military said the believed the release was because the prisoners were too much of a burden for their captors.

ISIS Releases 19 Christian Captives But Keeps 6 Year Old Girl

ISIS terrorists shocked man by releasing 19 Assyrian Christians out of the hundreds they captured during raids last week.  

The terrorists at the last minute kept a 6-year-old girl and a negotiator told the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) the terrorists likely plan to use the girl as a bargaining chip.

AINA estimates that over the last week, ISIS has captured up to 373 Christians from various villages.

The UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Saturday that a Sharia court ordered the release of 29 captives, not 19, and ISIS is now showing they will ignore their own courts.

“ISIS has claimed for a long time to follow rules, and it claims that these Sharia courts will impose limits,” Graeme Wood of The Atlantic told CNN. “They can attempt to get credibility by showing that they follow rules and that they have some kind of transparent process that follows their particular implementation of Sharia law.”

Witnesses say that at least 15 of the Christians have been killed by the terrorists.

Pope Francis Calls For End of the Death Penalty

Pope Francis has issued a call to all Christians to stand up and end the death penalty in their home countries.

“It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples’ lives from an unjust aggressor,” Francis said Wednesday in a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law according to Catholic News Service.

“All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment,” he said. “Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.”

Most Americans still support the death penalty.  A Gallup poll released Wednesday showed 63% of Americans still support capital punishment.  The total is still lower than the high of 80% reached in 1994 but still a large majority of citizens.

The Pope spoke out about prisoners being held around the world without trial.  In many of those cases, death penalties are being issued without a clear and open process.

ISIS Captive Speaks Out About Horrific Conditions

“They didn’t feed us much. I used to pass out a lot, but I would make trouble for him as much as possible and fight when I could,” a 15-year-old girl called Sara said. “Many times I thought of suicide but I kept thinking of my family and my brother. I lived only for them.”

Sara is one of a group of Yazidis captured by ISIS who were able to escape to safety in Iraq.  She’s now speaking out about the conditions they experienced and the horrors of torment from their captors.

Sara, her brother, pregnant sister-in-law and other Yazidis were captured when trying to escape Sinjar.  They had been hiding in a farmhouse.

Sara said all the women were loaded into trucks and then the terrorists gunned down all the men.  Sara’s brother was among the men slaughtered.

She said she was sold to a pair of older ISIS terrorists who were living in a mansion taken from a local family.  The men would regularly drain blood from her body; leaving her so weak she could barely handle daily activities such as eating or drinking.

She said that Christian women were forced to wear Muslim attire by the terrorist and were kept chained until they would renounce Christ and follow Islam.

Netanyahu Says No More Prisoner Releases

Israel’s Channel 2 is reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew a line before the start of Operation Protective Edge regarding the release of prisoners in peace deals with the terrorist group Hamas or anyone negotiating on their behalf.

Netanyahu said anyone convicted of terrorist acts would not be eligible for release from prison in any negotiation.

Netanyahu’s reasoning said despite the public statements by Palestinian leaders condemning the killing of three kidnapped Israeli teens, the celebratory welcome given to terrorists released as part of a previous peace deal conflict with the words.

The edict of the Prime Minister is expected to make peace negotiations more difficult over the next few months.  Prisoner releases along with a freeze on construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank were demands of Palestinians for peace talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly is going to seek approval from the Arab League to offer a nine-month negotiation process to create a Palestinian state.

North Korea Displays Imprisoned American Missionaries

Two American missionaries that have been imprisoned in North Korea for their faith were brought out for a “press conference” designed to have the government generate propaganda.

Kenneth Bae and Jeffrey Fowle were given five minutes with a reporter to send messages to friends and family along with pleading for the U.S. government to take steps to free them.

“Right now, what I can say to my friends and family is continue to pray for me and continue in efforts in getting me released from here,” Bae told reporter Will Ripley.  Bae has been facing a sentence of 15 year hard labor for “hostile acts to bring down the government” although those “hostile acts” were never presented to anyone.

“The only hope that I have is to have someone from the U.S. comes,” Bae said.  “But so far, the latest I’ve heard is that there has been no response yet. So I believe that officials here are waiting for that.”

Bae’s family says he’s suffering from diabetes along with heart and liver problems.

Fowle told reporters that within a month he could be sharing Bae’s cell at the labor camp.  He said his treatment so far has been “good” although he was speaking with North Korean officials sitting beside him.