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755 drug convicts could get released early

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An estimated 755 convicts in San Diego and Imperial counties could get out of prison earlier because of a proposed change to lower federal drug sentencing guidelines.

In April, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recommended reducing time behind bars for most drug crimes in a move that would reverse some policies enacted in past decades. The change is set to take effect Nov. 1.

The commission estimates the change could affect some 50,000 inmates nationwide, including 755 from the Southern District of California. This month, the commission went further by saying the change should be applied retroactively.

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James Fife, a federal public defender who handles appellate cases in San Diego, said the commission has finally listened to the defense bar: “We’ve been arguing for years our drug sentences are too high,” he said.

Offenders whose requests are granted can be released from custody no earlier than November 2015. It will take some time for defense lawyers to identify candidates and for the courts to come up with an efficient system to process the increased caseload, Fife said.

Eligible inmates would be resentenced by a judge, who could presumably take other factors into consideration when recalculating the sentence, such as behavior in prison.

Only 4 percent of eligible inmates in San Diego or Imperial counties would be able to argue for immediate release, whereas 23 percent could be released after two years. An additional 13 percent are serving significantly longer sentences and would have to still spend six or more years behind bars before being freed.

Nationwide, the bulk of cases eligible for reduced sentences involve methamphetamine and cocaine.

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