6,000 inmates to be released under new federal sentencing guidelines

The US Department of Justice is preparing to release roughly 6,000 inmates from federal prisons later this month under new sentencing guidelines.

The inmates’ crimes were predominantly nonviolent drug offenses, but under mandatory minimum sentencing laws enacted during the crack and cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s they were sentenced to many years behind bars, according to federal law enforcement officials.

The inmates from federal prison nationwide will be set free by the department’s Bureau of Prisons between October 30 and November 2,” according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Washington Post. “Most of them will go to halfway houses, and home confinement before being put on supervised release.”

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