Carol Denise Richardson, a Texas grandmother, was convicted on a slew of drug charges in 2006. Her spotty criminal history prohibited the court from showing her mercy. She was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
The Obama administration went on a commutation frenzy during the president’s final term. His Justice Department hoped to defeat the drug war by dialing back the legal consequences for users and dealers. As it turned out, if you let a bunch of drug criminals go, they’ll just commit more crimes.
Richardson was released on July 28, 2016, nearly ten years after her sentence began.
The Huffington Post reports:
“But less than a year later, on April 13 this year, Richardson was arrested in the Houston suburb of Pasadena for allegedly stealing $60 worth of laundry detergent. Her court-appointed lawyer said she planned to sell the detergent to buy drugs, since she had relapsed into addiction to crack.
In addition to the theft arrest, federal prosecutors said Richardson had violated five other conditions of her release — among them failing to tell the court of her arrest or her change of address, and having been fired from a job for not showing up for work.”
The administration freed her, but failed to provide her with the resources she needed to survive. Obviously, a former crack addict who just spent a decade in prison is going to have trouble showing up to a regular job. The clemency program doesn’t make sense at all if the government doesn’t try to assimilate the former inmates into society.
https://youtu.be/otK_ChQe3ME
Obama only cared about appearances. It didn’t matter if his policies were actually effective, only that they received positive press. Freeing an incarcerated grandmother earned Obama heaps of well-meaning, but misguided praise.
(Source: Huffington Post)
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