In Case You Missed It

Published October 23, 2007

Alva Mae Groves, quaintly known as “Granny,” died at the age of 85 in the Tallahassee Federal Corrections Institution almost two months ago. Her death went mostly unnoticed outside of Northern Florida, but it should have made people sit up and take notice.

Mrs. Groves had spent 13 years in prison after being convicted of a conspiracy to sell crack in exchange for food stamps. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison – at the age of 72 – for two reasons: she refused to testify against her son (whose trailer she lived in and whose crack she was convicted of selling) and the United States Government has absurd sentencing policies for crack convictions.

Crack in the Justice System: Crunching the Numbers

1986: Year that the five-year mandatory minimum sentence (regardless of previous criminal history) for possession of five grams of crack was codified into law

100:1: Ratio of cocaine to crack that would elicit a similar prison term. In other words, five grams of crack (probably the same size as a spoonful of Kix cereal) will guarantee you five years in federal prison. Whereas you would need 500 grams of cocaine (approximately two cups) to “earn” the same prison sentence.

.60: More than half the people in prison for a drug offense have no history of violence or high-level trafficking but are sentenced like they do

10: Average number of years served by drug offenders in federal prisons

2.9, 3.1, 5.4: The average number of years served by those convicted of manslaughter, assault, and sexual abuse respectively

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