I urge you to consider commuting the federal prison sentence of Clarence Aaron,
whose case highlights the unjust consequences of federal minimum-sentencing
laws, and the vengeful rather than rehabilitative nature of the US prison
system.  Fox News in December reported on the case of Mr Aaron, a university
student and a good citizen who was convicted a decade and a half ago of
conspiracy to distribute cocaine.  His conviction stems only from the fact
that, as a student struggling to pay tuition fees, he accepted money in return
for introducing a friend to a drug dealer.  Although others involved in the
crime received lenient sentences in exchange for testifying against Mr Aaron,
Mr Aaron himself was sentenced to three life sentences without the possibility
of parole.  (One year later, Congress passed a "safety valve" exempting
first-time, non-violent offenders from mandatory minimum sentences, but the law
was not retroactive.)  It is unethical to keep Mr Aaron imprisoned: his
continued incarceration does nothing towards his rehabilitation, and people who
were guilty of more serious crimes have received much lesser sentences.  I urge
you to commute Mr Aaron's sentence, and those of all  prisoners who similarly
have run afoul of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, so that they will be
immediately able to rejoin society as productive citizens.