GTV NEWS: Early release proposed for crack cocaine offenders

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles — Thousands of federal prisoners could have an average of three years shaved off their prison terms to correct wide disparities in sentences between crack and powder cocaine offenders, under a proposal supported by Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. More than 12,000 federal prisoners — nearly 6% of the inmates in the badly overcrowded U.S. prison system — could be affected. But Holder recommended Wednesday that the early release be applied to only 5,500 prisoners, whose crimes did not involve the use of weapons and who did not have long criminal histories. The releases could begin later this year.