Jason Hernandez never thought he would see the outside world again.
Since 1998, he had been serving a life sentence in federal prison for selling crack cocaine in his native McKinney, Texas. It was his first criminal offense, but due to the Drug Act of 1986 and the mandatory minimum sentences it required, Hernandez found himself locked up at the age of 21. Then, in 2013, his prayers and petitions were answered: He was granted clemency by President Obama.
Watch the video above and see how Hernandez uses Crack Open the Door, his sentencing advocacy nonprofit, to spotlight and fight for the release of other first-time nonviolent drug offenders serving life without parole.
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Tag: mandatory minimum sentencing
The One Issue That Can Bring Cory Booker and Rand Paul Together
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul are making a surprising alliance to reform federal drug laws. Booker, a Democrat, has lived on food stamps to better empathize with their recipients, while Paul, a Republican, has proposed eliminating the aid program entirely. But the two Senators are in perfect alignment on the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing, under which certain drug convictions carry a set number of years in prison regardless of circumstance.
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Attorney General Eric Holder has already announced plans to go lighter on drug offenders, but Booker and Paul want to go further, including lightening federal restrictions on hemp and marijuana. We’re not sure what their plans are yet, but with popular support for drug reform soaring, and both Senators building impressive political resumes, theirs is an unlikely fellowship worth watching.
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