The release is said to target inmates who were hit with harsh sentences.
Inmates from Connecticut are among those expected to be released from federal prisons at the end of October, part of the largest one-time release of federal prisoners in the nation's history.
The Connecticut Mirror reported that 32 prisoners from Connecticut will be among those set free.
From the report:
The prisoners regaining their freedom are the first wave of an effort to reduce overcrowded prison populations and scale back harsh sentences given to drug offenders in the past few decades.
The group of 32 inmates from Connecticut does not include an additional unknown number of criminal aliens arrested in the state who will also leave federal prisons -- to be deported. It is also not known how many of the Connecticut inmates being released will be from the state's only federal prison in Danbury.
Maurice Chammah is with the Marshall Project, a non-profit news site focused on criminal justice issues. He was a guest on the “PBS NewsHour.”
“These are all, according to the Department of Justice, low-level and non-violent drug offenders who went into the system a number of years ago,” Chammah said on the show. “And then, a year ago, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which is an independent judicial organization, set new sentencing guidelines, and made those retroactive, which meant that prisoners who were serving time for drug crimes in the federal system could apply for new sentences to have their sentences reduced under the new guidelines.”
Watch the segment below:
Chammah said the upcoming release is part of a broader push that will target inmates who were hit with harsh sentences, and relieve overcrowded prisons.
“They’re all coming at one time as sort of the first wave of this,” Chammah said. “Then over the next year, a little over 8,000 prisoners stand to also be released. In total, it’s been estimated that over 40,000 will be released.”
According to the Marshall Project, most of the prisoners to be released are black and Hispanic men. Their average age is mid-30s.
Who are the federal prisoners about to be released? We found a document that tells us more: http://t.co/UepciXEOpH
— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) October 12, 2015
Most will likely be returning to southern states, with Texas expected to receive the largest number of released inmates.