FREEDOM ELUDES MANY CRACK INMATES

Though New Rules Have Reduced Sentences for Some, Others Remain
Behind Bars Because of Bureaucratic Delays and Justice Department Opposition.

WASHINGTON -- New federal sentencing guidelines designed to end the
racially tinged disparity between prison sentences for powder and
crack cocaine dealers went into effect a month ago, and so far more
than 3,000 inmates have had their prison terms reduced.

Dozens have been released, including at least 15 in California, but
many others who should have been released have not. Attorneys
involved in the process blame bureaucratic delays as well as
opposition from the Justice Department.

In North Carolina, which has the country's fifth largest population
of crack offenders eligible for early release, four inmates have been
freed out of some three dozen who lawyers say should have been
released, in some cases, years ago.

The delays appear to be due in part to a procedural bottleneck:
Federal judges there did not approve a plan for processing requests
for sentence reductions until five days before the new rules were to
go into effect. Courts in parts of Texas and south Florida also
appear to be lagging.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission approved the guidelines in December
after a two-decade debate over the fairness and efficacy of laws that
have punished dealers of crack cocaine much more severely than those
who sell powder cocaine. The disparity has weighed particularly hard
on African Americans, who represent about 90% of the defendants
prosecuted for crack offenses in federal court.

The sentencing commission has estimated that about 20,000 inmates are
eligible for the reduced sentences.

When the rules were approved, the commission deferred the effective
date until March 3 to give courts time to prepare. As of Tuesday, the
federal Bureau of Prisons said it had received 3,077 signed orders
from judges modifying the sentences of prisoners nationwide. The
prisons bureau won't say how many have actually been released; even
after the reductions, some inmates will still have much time to serve.

In Dallas, one judge has refused to allow federal defenders to
represent crack offenders in his court, saying they have no right to
counsel at this stage of the proceedings. That has left hundreds of
inmates having to file jailhouse petitions to gain their freedom.

After that ruling, the federal public defender in Dallas, Richard
Anderson, sent out a mass mailing to several hundred eligible inmates
to help them prepare their cases. Many of the inmates' applications
are incomplete or have errors. The complexities of federal sentencing
law have caused added confusion.

"The playing field isn't very level," Anderson said.

Some judges have recently begun to reconsider the approach and are
more readily appointing lawyers for inmates, he said.

The delays stand in sharp contrast to the experience in other regions
of the country where the new rules have unleashed an outpouring of
federal clemency.

The process seems to be working best in jurisdictions where
prosecutors, judges and probation officers were working weeks and in
some cases months in advance of the effective date to mitigate delays.

Lee T. Lawless, a federal public defender in St. Louis, said his
office had a standing agreement with the U.S. attorney that unless an
inmate had posed a clear public safety threat or had received an
unusually lenient sentence, the government would not stand in the way
of the reductions.

Parks N. Small, a federal public defender in Columbia, S.C., said his
office had been engaged in "triage" for months to make sure prisoners
eligible for immediate release received attention. About 80
sentence-reduction orders were signed the first week of March,
including "a couple of mistakes who got out a week or two early."

Dozens of other inmates have been granted sentence reductions in West
Virginia, Florida and Ohio, among other states.

Among California crack offenders gaining early releases was a Fresno
woman, Stacey Candler, 34, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in
1996 after police caught up with her live-in boyfriend, a crack
dealer. Also released was Vernon Watts, 37, of Sacramento, whose
22-year-sentence was shaved by about four years. "I have been waiting
for this for a long time," Watts said in an interview after his release.

David M. Porter, a federal public defender in Sacramento, said
Candler and Watts would still be behind bars if legislation the
Justice Department had sought limiting the impact of the new
sentences had become law. That exception was aimed at supposed
violent offenders whose cases involved guns. Neither Candler nor
Watts was convicted of gun offenses, but they would have been
affected by the harsher rule because weapons were found by police at
their residences. Nonetheless, Porter said that prosecutors in
California did not object to the two inmates being released early.

At least three inmates convicted of crack offenses in Los Angeles
have been released.

In other jurisdictions, prosecutors and judges are moving more
deliberately. Some federal law enforcement officials defend the
approach, noting that the new rules do not automatically entitle
inmates to the lower sentences, and that judges are required to
consider such factors as whether they pose a danger to the community
in weighing early releases.

Claire Rauscher, a federal public defender in Charlotte, did not
expect much opposition when she filed papers on behalf of about three
dozen crack offenders seeking early release in North Carolina. They
were all near the end of their sentences, and most were already
residing in halfway houses being prepared to reenter society. "They
are perfect candidates" for immediate release, Rauscher said.

But prosecutors in Charlotte apparently don't think so. The
government supported one of the early releases and actively opposed
two other requests, including one covering the case of a 29-year-old
crack dealer who under the new rules should have been released two
years ago. Prosecutors have argued that the man has a continuing
propensity for violence.

The U.S. attorney in Charlotte, Gretchen C.F. Shappert, has been one
of the Justice Department's most ardent advocates of tough sentences
for crack offenders. She was the department's representative in
February on Capitol Hill, testifying against the new sentencing
breaks and citing the need to keep dealers locked up.

Now that the rules are in effect, "I believe that it is our duty and
responsibility as prosecutors to review each and every petition" for
early release, Shappert said in an interview. "We will provide our
judges with an informed and detailed response in cases that we
believe require judicial scrutiny."

Shappert recently opposed the release of Kenneth Eugene Jackson, who
had just 11 days left on his sentence after having been incarcerated
for a decade. Jackson had already been released from a halfway house
and was serving the remainder of his sentence in home confinement,
Rauscher said.

Shappert argued in court papers that Jackson, whose original sentence
was reduced because he had cooperated with investigators, had already
received enough of a benefit.

But a federal judge in Asheville, N.C., countermanded the
government's position and ordered him released, citing his "exemplary
record during incarceration."