Scores of federal prisoners convicted of crack cocaine offenses in Massachusetts could have their sentences shortened and be freed over the next five years as a result of the government's effort to reduce the stark disparity between punishments for crimes involving crack cocaine and those involving cocaine powder.
Through 2012, 91 prisoners convicted of selling and possessing crack will be eligible to ask judges to cut their sentences as a result of a landmark decision last week by the US Sentencing Commission, according to a commission analysis.
The panel voted unanimously to let 19,500 inmates nationwide apply for reductions after years of criticism that mandatory penalties for federal crack offenses are far harsher than those for cocaine powder and disproportionately affect blacks.
Mark L. Wolf is chief judge of the US District Court in Massachusetts, where requests for early release will be decided. He said the commission's vote was an important step toward addressing unreasonably harsh sentences for crack.
Wolf said that Congress, under the leadership of Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr., then House speaker, hastily pushed through a bill that created draconian mandatory penalties for crack in the national frenzy following the 1986 death of Len Bias, a first-round National Basketball Association draft pick for the Celtics whose death was initially linked to crack cocaine.
"I welcome the change, and I expect virtually every judge around the country welcomes the change," said Wolf, a former high-ranking federal prosecutor. He said the excessive penalties "caused federal judges for the last 20 years to be administering a system of legalized injustice."
Under the law, someone caught with 1 gram of crack would receive the same sentence as someone with 100 grams of powder cocaine. It also imposes a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison for dealing 5 grams of crack and 10 years in prison for dealing 50 grams of crack.
The Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal prison sentences, went further, establishing sentence ranges for various crack-related crimes that exceeded even what Congress mandated.
Miriam Conrad, head of the federal public defender agency in Boston, which has begun receiving phone calls from relatives of inmates, said the long sentences have ravaged city neighborhoods by sending black men to prison for a decade or more. At least 80 percent of federal defendants in crack cases are black.
Earlier this year, the Sentencing Commission reduced the sentencing range for crack cocaine offenses by two levels, lowering the maximum recommended sentence for selling 5 grams of cocaine from 78 months to 63 months.
On Dec. 11, the panel voted to make the move retroactive, allowing thousands of federal prisoners sentenced before Nov. 1 to apply for a reduction. According to the commission, that means the average prison term for eligible inmates could be shortened by 27 months.
Requests for reductions will be judged on a case-by-case basis and will hinge on several factors, including inmates' disciplinary records and whether they pose a danger to the community. Prisoners sentenced as career offenders or convicted of crimes of violence in addition to their crack offenses would be ineligible.
Nonetheless, prison terms for crack cocaine will remain longer than those for powder cocaine, because only Congress can change the 100-to-1 ratio and mandatory minimum sentences.
Opponents of the more lenient sentencing guidelines have defended the two-tier penalty system on the grounds that crack is cheaper and more addictive and more frequently linked to violent crime. But the Sentencing Commission, in four reports to Congress over the past 12 years, acknowledged that the differences between crack and powder cocaine were overstated and that the disparate penalties that it had helped put in place were unfair.
Mary Price, vice president and general counsel of the Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an advocacy group based in Washington, said the commission's vote will enable almost 10 percent of the nation's nearly 200,000 federal inmates to apply for shortened sentences. She said it will also send a message that Congress needs to address the other inequities in crack cocaine laws.
"It's really in Congress's court." she said. "Every day a person spends in prison longer than they ought to is a terrible day."
Law enforcement officials are divided over the prospect that convicted crack offenders could be released sooner.
Lawrence Police Chief John Romero said drugs like crack fuel crime in his city. He was concerned about the possibility of convicted crack offenders returning to the streets.
"In a perfect world, people go to prison and come out rehabilitated," he said. "But we know, realitywise, that that's not the case in many instances."
But Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis applauded the commission's Dec. 11 vote.
"There was an inequity in the system, and I am pleased to see that they have taken the appropriate steps to rectify the matter," he said in a written statement.
A spokeswoman for US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan referred inquiries to the Justice Department in Washington. Officials did not return calls yesterday. The Justice Department has strenuously opposed the sentencing change, saying last week that "these offenders are among the most serious and violent offenders in the federal system."
The Sentencing Commission has not publicly released the identities of the 19,500 inmates who can apply. Wolf has received the names of inmates convicted in Massachusetts, but said he will not disclose them because the list might not be accurate.
Some of those on the list, Wolf said, might not be eligible for reduced sentences because of factors the commission was unaware of, such as inmates' disciplinary record in prison. The commission left it up to the federal courts to decide how to evaluate prisoners' requests for a reduction.
Wolf said he plans to appoint a panel that will include a judge, public defender, prosecutor, and probation official to determine factors to be used in screening applications for early releases. As a result of the commission's vote, judges can begin considering applications on March 3.
In addition to the 91 inmates listed as eligible over the next five years, another 28 could become eligible in six or more years, the commission's report said.
In some cases, defendants will have to appear before judges. But in other cases, Wolf said, judges can rule on the applications. Prosecutors have the right to appeal shortened sentences.
The relaxed sentencing guidelines do not apply to people convicted of crack offenses in state courts.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.
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