jan 28, 2021 - Michael Thompson Released From Prison

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On the day of January 28, 2021 Michael Thompson was released from prison. This man is currently sixty nine years old and just spent twenty five years in prison for a non-violent drug offense. Michael was arrested for the sale of three pounds of marijuana to a police informant in 1994. Michael Thompson applied for clemency multiple times and was subsequently denied. By receiving support by the Last Prisoner Project, he got clemency from Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The governor also released three others that committed non-violent crimes. Without clemency, his earliest date for parole would have been in 2038. Serving a forty-two year sentence for the possession of a substance, that later became legalized recreationally in 2018 in Michigan, is unacceptable. Fortunately, Thompson was supported by many celebrity figures, such as Kim Kardashian and thousands of other supporters which brought it to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s attention.

However, this is not the case for everyone. Kimberly Corral, Michales attorney, mentioned Thompson’s case will open “a door for a lot more cooperative work in the future, because there are many, many more nonviolent offenders who remain in egregious sentencing schemes that are in need of release.” There are currently 66,137 prison inmates that are charged with drug offenses, which is 46.3% of the prison population. 10,577 of these prisoners are convicted for cannabis use while 31,674 prisoners in state jails are convicted for marijuana-related offenses. After the legalization of marijuana, it allowed the release of a few of these prisoners with clemency. Moving forward, the goal should be that the current 40,000 should be released, which not only would help the prisoners but the hundreds of thousands family members that have been affected.

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