PLAN TO CUT INMATES' SENTENCES RAISES IRE

The Bush administration squared off against members of the federal
judiciary yesterday over a proposal by an independent panel to reduce
the sentences of thousands of federal inmates imprisoned on crack
cocaine offenses.

In testimony before the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets
guidelines for federal prison sentences and recently established more
lenient guidelines for future crack cocaine offenders, the
administration implored commissioners to forgo making the policy
retroactive so that 19,500 inmates would be eligible to have their
sentences reduced.

Such an action would backlog the courts and flood halfway houses with
hardened criminals who are not prepared to reenter society, Justice
Department officials said. "My concern is about the future and about
the unforeseen consequences of releasing such large numbers of
convicted drug offenders into vulnerable communities in a relatively
short period of time," said Gretchen C.F. Shappert, a U.S. attorney
for the Western District of North Carolina.

But that assertion was disputed by federal judges, public defenders,
activists and several of the commissioners, who, in asking pointed
questions to Shappert and other officials, appeared to indicate a
willingness to approve making the new, lenient guidelines
retroactive.

After Shappert suggested that violent criminals would go free,
Commissioners Ruben Castillo and Beryl A. Howell took issue with some
of Shappert's comments, and with statements by other members of the
administration.

Castillo said eligibility for sentence reduction did not mean that
inmates would automatically have their incarceration time cut, and
that Shappert and her colleagues would probably be successful in
making sure that violent criminals do not win appeals for release.
"Isn't there a chance that you would win some of those challenges?" he
asked.

Howell's remarks to Shappert were sharper. "I have been quite troubled
by the department's letter that says the unexpected release of 20,000
crack offenders" would clog the courts and wreak havoc on communities,
she said, referring to a letter from the Justice Department to the
commission. "That is totally wrong."

In truth, she said, many of the 19,500 would not get the sentence
reductions they seek, and even fewer would be released. But even if
all were granted relief, Howell said, the process would take seven to
10 years for most, a far lesser burden on the courts.

"By our estimate," Howell said to Shappert about inmates likely to be
released into her Charlotte area district, "the most will be 40 or 42
people," not the hundreds estimated by the prosecutor.

The testimony of Sylvester E. Jones, assistant director of the witness
security and prisoner operations division of the U.S. Marshals
Service, was also questioned.

If 19,500 prisoners were returned to court for hearings and housed for
a month at $65 per day, Jones said, the cost would amount to $38
million for housing alone. Transportation of the prisoners from
prisons and courts across the nation would cost $43 million.

Jones's calculations, commissioners said, were based on a false and
largely exaggerated number of prisoners, and costs would likely be
borne out over a decade.

The commission, comprising seven voting members appointed by President
Bush and former president Bill Clinton, is scheduled to meet today,
but a vote on retroaction is unlikely. Individuals familiar with the
panel's deliberations who spoke only after receiving a promise not to
be identified said the commission is likely to vote on retroaction in
January. A spokesman for the group declined to discuss its plans.

The disparity between the sentences given for powder cocaine, which
more white people use, and cheaper crack cocaine, more widely used
among African Americans, is among the most sensitive issues of the war
on drugs that began in the mid-1980s.

As part of a tough sentencing equation, Congress mandated that
conviction for possessing or distributing five grams of crack cocaine
would draw the same mandatory minimum prison sentence as a conviction
for possessing or selling 500 grams of powder cocaine.

The commission asked Congress to consider changing the equation before
taking action by changing the guidelines on May 1. Congress had 180
days to intervene but declined. The new, more lenient guidelines went
into effect Nov. 1.

Lisa B. Freeland, a public defender for the Western District of
Pennsylvania, said the sentencing disparity should be made retroactive
immediately. "The . . . ratio is unfair and cannot coexist with
justice and equity," she said.