Since I started working on this story about crack sentencing guidelines, I've been receiving bunches of email, via Corrlinks, from people serving various sentences related to crack-cocaine charges. I thought I'd share a few:

U have people like my self that was put here under Weed and Seed in particular to get a lot more time then what the state could give me for the small amount of drugs I sold. 16 grams... in the state I would have got county time. Over here I got 19 and a half years bcuz I have 2 priors of drug offenses for 20 dallar sales as a teenager. I been in since I was 22. I will be 34 in Jan... There is no justice in such a thing at all. I mean all around the board people like me is facing this same issue and its in pure violation of human rights period. I have a friend that killed 2 people got 15 years in the state and is now home and the sad part about it is I came in b4 he did...

The whole set up is a joke that is made to put away people of color that grew up in low-income neighborhoods that do not have the money nor the power or the backing and also no knowledge of how to prevent such things as this from devastating poor families. It's sad but it's true. U got guys like myself from a corner selling small crack pieces in prisons with presidents like Noriega for nothing. I actually use to feed a guy Noriega his meals everyday. The same guy that was in my history books... 19 years a small drug dealer like myself from this small town and the president of Panama waiting on me daily to eat... 16 grams... 11 years later still here. Crack law change for small drug offenders and I don't get no relief bcuz its not for guys like me who have two priors for selling 20 dallars worth of drugs before. That's bias and pure violation of any human with rights... 19 years 7 months. 16 grams. No relief. R.

I asked R. to tell me a bit more about himself—and what Noriega was like.

Incidentally, Noriega served 30 years in U.S. prisons for eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering. R is serving 19.5 years for his few grams. Noriega's codefendant, Ricardo Bilonick, smuggled 40,000 pounds of Colombian cocaine into the U.S. but only got a three-year sentence because he was willing to testify against Noriega.

Kind of sounds like Tuesday's letter from prison.

i am in coleman medium. i grew up in a small town called ft. pierce, fl. yes i have spoken with him briefly. he was a very pleasant man with a glow that showed that he has to b of some importance. his main words to me was that america is a joke. if u r not with them then u r against them. he also said something in reference to not knowing that this government was so corrupt. in so many words he was blinded by the words america speak... which are all lies and deceit. bu n e wayz nice speaking with u. ttyl.

and listen mr stranger by any change could u tell me what's ur purpose in doing this. r u a politician or some thing? just curious of ur position on doing this 4us.