34 Oregon drug offenders join early release exodus of 6,000 U.S. prisoners


The federal prison complex in Sheridan sits 50 miles southwest of Portland. (Bryan Denson/The Oregonian)


By Bryan Denson | The Oregonian/OregonLive
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on October 30, 2015 at 4:07 PM, updated October 30, 2015 at 5:17 PM

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons began to free the first of about 6,000 drug offenders in its custody on Friday, including dozens convicted in Oregon. All were convicted of serious drug crimes, and all are recipients of retroactive sentence reductions approved last year.

Federal judges in Oregon have ordered 34 prisoners cut loose under an amendment to federal sentencing guidelines, although 21 of them are heading into custody of U.S. immigration officials because they are not American citizens, said Thomas H. Edmonds, Oregon's top federal drug prosecutor.

The foreigners are expected to be held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.

"In total, ICE anticipates taking into custody approximately 1,789 non-citizens on October 30 and November 2," said the agency's Barbara Gonzalez, a senior advisor to Latin America, in a written statement. "Seven hundred sixty-three of these individuals have already been issued final orders of removal, while the others are in varying stages of processing and removal proceedings."

Edmonds, quoting numbers from the federal court system, said eight of those prisoners are from Oregon and another five are Americans from outside the state. They will be supervised by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services.

Another eight Oregonians who were sentenced outside the state also are being released, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which would not provide further information about them, citing privacy concerns.

The sentence reductions were approved last year by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which cut about two years off the sentences of many drug offenders.

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