Pubdate: Wed, 28 Aug 2013
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Debi Campbell
Note: Debi Campbell was born in Long Beach. She now lives in Virginia.

THE VIEW FROM INSIDE

When I learned this month that Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. was 
proposing to change how the federal government charges and sentences 
nonviolent drug offenders, I thought to myself, "It's about time." I 
know a thing or two about time. I spent more than 16 years in federal 
prison for a nonviolent drug offense.

I do not have any excuses for my crime. In the early 1990s, my 
then-husband and I began using methamphetamine at a point in our 
lives when we should have known better. I am sorry to admit that I 
became addicted to the drug and then began selling it to others so 
that I could make some money. I was not a drug kingpin by any 
stretch, but I thought the extra money would help me keep my family together.

I was eventually arrested. The woman I sold drugs to pleaded guilty 
and cooperated with prosecutors in exchange for a shorter sentence. I 
knew I was guilty and was going to have to serve time in prison. What 
I did not know at the time was that federal mandatory minimum 
sentencing laws - and the federal guidelines based on them - would 
require so much time.

Federal prosecutors charged me with a conspiracy to sell 10 kilograms 
of meth, an amount I knew had been inflated by the cooperating woman. 
When I contested the drug amounts she had testified to at my 
sentencing, the judge took away any credit I would have received for 
accepting responsibility for my crime and added four more years for 
obstructing justice. In May 1994, I was sentenced to 19 years and 
seven months in federal prison. (The woman who cooperated received probation.)

I deserved to go to prison. I had broken the law. More important, I 
needed to go to prison because I desperately needed a wake-up call.

But I did not need nearly 20 years in prison to pay my debt to 
society and learn my lesson. The first few years of my incarceration, 
I focused on self-improvement. I began working toward an associate's 
degree in business administration, which I achieved, and then 
continued on toward a bachelor's degree in social science. I 
participated in the Prison Fellowship ministry and stayed in close 
touch with my family. I kept my spirits high by believing that there 
was no way I would serve my full sentence.

But there I sat year after year, and there were many other women just 
like me. We were sentenced to more time than some people who were 
convicted in federal court of murder, manslaughter or kidnapping. And 
once those first few years passed, we were mostly just killing time 
on the taxpayers' tab. Many of us had young children who could have 
used our love and support, and having felt as if we failed them once, 
we were anxious for another chance. We couldn't wait to lead 
productive lives. And yet the years kept marching by - slowly.

There is no parole in the federal system. The law allows prisoners to 
earn time off for good behavior; they cannot reduce their sentences 
by more than 15%. I earned the maximum amount of good behavior 
credit. I also sought to have my sentence commuted, but was denied 
three times. (The last rejection, from President Obama, arrived after 
I was already home.) I was released in 2010 after serving 16 years 
and one month.

Since my release, I have continued my education, provided child care 
so that one of my daughters could pursue her education and 
volunteered with a prisoner reentry group, and am working at an 
electronics recycling center. I knew I could make a positive 
difference and wanted to make up for lost time.

I know there are a lot of other women just like me who have paid 
their debt and gotten their heads straight but are still serving 
lengthy mandatory minimum sentences for drugs.

I needed prison, but I did not need to spend the majority of my adult 
life there. I hope Congress will work with the attorney general to 
reform our sentencing laws. Change is long overdue.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom