“When President Barack Obama announced his latest round of commutations he reminded Americans in his statement that Congress is working on bipartisan federal sentencing reforms that would hopefully provide some relief to some who are currently in prison for drug-related crimes.
“He’s referring to the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, introduced last fall. It’s a more modest sentencing reform plan than some had hoped for and it was amended at the end of April with some more changes. To help people understand where S.2123 stands right now, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) has a useful explainer of what it actually changes about federal crime sentencing, which parts are retroactive, estimates of who might be helped (when possible), and what is missing.”