A woman sentenced to life in prison in 2006, but was granted clemency by former President Barack Obama has been sent back to prison.
Carol Denise Richardson was arrested for theft and violating the terms of her supervised release, according to freebeacon.com. Richardson, who was originally arrested for her role in a cocaine ring, had her sentence commuted by Obama in March 2016 after serving 10 years of her sentence. She was released from the Federal Bureau of Prisons on July 28, 2016 and placed under supervised release for 10 years.
Richardson was sent back to prison after committing five separate violations of her release terms, the Department of Justice announced.
Richardson’s attorney said her failure to abide by the terms of her supervised release on her continued addiction to crack cocaine.
Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), noted that the Obama administration did not make completion of a drug rehabilitation program a condition for Richardson’s release and that it had for others in similar situations. He said she likely didn’t have access to drug rehabilitation because she was serving a life sentence.
