La Tuna prisoner to be released early following Obama’s clemency initiative

President Barack Obama is offering 102 federal inmates the chance to leave prison early and that includes one man here in the borderland. This is all part of his end-of-term push to spur action on criminal justice reform. A man behind bars in La Tuna Federal Corrections Institute is set to be released in February of 2017 having served only half of his sentence. Cesar R. Jara was convicted in February of 2006 with possession to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana. He was sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment along with 10 years’ supervised release According to details uncovered by the ABC-7 I-Team, Jara was caught driving a trailer with 1.5 tons of pot. His defense argued that Jara’s role was “simply to drive the vehicle and he misunderstood the scope and the structure of the criminal enterprise.” His defense went on to argue that Jara “was paid $1,000 for transporting the more than $2 million amount, indicating he was a minor player in the scheme.” Obama’s latest round of commutations brings the number to 774 sentences that he has shortened, including 590 this year. The White House said it’s more than the previous 11 presidents put together. Thirty-four of the new recipients had been serving life sentences. Almost all the prisoners had been convicted of nonviolent crimes related to cocaine, methamphetamine or other drugs, although some were also serving time for firearms violations in connection to drug trafficking, possession or sales. Almost all are men, though they represent a diverse cross-section of the country geographically. Obama has been calling for years for phasing out strict sentences for drug offenses, arguing they lead to excessive punishment and incarceration rates unseen in other developed countries. With Obama’s support, the Justice Department in recent years directed prosecutors to rein in the use of harsh mandatory minimums. You can read more about Obama clemency initiative here.