“Federal prisons are not filled with low-level, non-violent drug possessors,” Sen. Jeff Sessions declared in a Senate speech on Tuesday:
“Make no mistake: federal prisons are not filled with low-level, non-violent drug possessors. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics – anybody that knows how this occurs knows it already, but, the number’s even higher than I suspected.
“99.7% of drug offenders in federal prison at the end of fiscal year 2012 were convicted of drug trafficking offenses – not drug possession.”
“Drug trafficking is an inherently violent activity,” Sessions argued, rebutting the Obama Administration’s claims that drug sentences should be made lighter, or eliminated, for the benefit of nonviolent drug law violators.
Sen. Sessions also bemoaned the continuing decline of the federal prison population to its lowest level since 2008:
“Crime is going up, prison population is falling rather rapidly,” Sen. Sessions warned, noting that “admissions to federal prison have declined every year since 2011.” “The federal prison population is at its lowest level since 2008” and is expected to continue to decline, Sessions said.
Sen. Sessions says the solution is tougher sentencing combined with better enforcement:
“We need to enforce our laws and we need to make the consequences of drug trafficking a deterrent.”