Richard Paey’s troubles began after he suffered a serious back injury in a car accident. Richard became reliant on pain medications to help alleviate his chronic pain.

An abused woman who lived in fear of her boyfriend, Sally Smith was sentenced under Michigan’s infamous “650 Lifer Law” for her peripheral involvement in her boyfriend's cocaine conspiracy.

At William's sentencing, the Honorable Paul F. Chaiet said, “In this Court’s view, the sentencing process goes awry in this case … I’ve been a judge for twelve years and a prosecutor for fourteen years.  And the penalty in this case under the mandatory extended term is simply too severe.  It does not fit the crime.”  Judge Chaiet would also say, “Mandatory sentencing provisions can create difficult results.  In the court’s view, this is one of those times where the ultimate results are difficult to accept.” 

Jennifer’s substance abuse has ravaged her life and her family. Forging checks to feed her addiction resulted in conviction under North Carolina's habitual offender law.

Christine and her two brothers were born and raised in New Jersey.  Although she was never exposed to drugs or alcohol at home, Christine began experimenting with alcohol at the age of 14 and by the time she was 17 had tried ecstasy and marijuana.  She reports that she then quickly became addicted to heroin, prescription pills and alcohol.  She entered rehabilitation programs twice, at 18 and 20, but each time proved ineffective and she went right back to using drugs again.  Like many other drug addicts, Christine began to commit crimes to support her addiction. 

Tony began using cocaine in 1994 after he lost his job when his company went out of business.  It was his third stint of unemployment in six years.  A former coworker introduced him to the drug, and Tony found it easy to buy small amounts of cocaine in his neighborhood.  He would then sell part of his purchase to those in his social circle that used cocaine and use the rest for himself.  The amounts of the purchases could be measured in fractions of a gram and the amounts he would buy and sell were between $25-50.

She began to use marijuana at the age of 14 and experimented with drugs throughout her teenage years.  After graduating from high school in 1993, Karey worked a series of retail jobs and remained gainfully employed.  She continued to further her education into her twenties and received an Associate in Arts degree from Ocean County College in 2000.  While she was successful in her employment endeavors, Karey continued her marijuana use and even began to sell the drug on occasion.  However, she was not a drug kingpin by any stretch of the imagination and had very few financial assets at the time of her arrest.

23-year-old Maria Martinez came to the United States from Mexico in September 2002 to visit her boyfriend.  Less than a month later, she faced a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence after she was charged with the intent to deliver over 650 grams of cocaine.  

Daniel came to the U.S. at 16, hoping to earn money and support his family. His decision to act as a drug mule resulted in a mandatory sentence in N.C.

Charles is married with a nine year-old daughter and a two year-old son.  His family has remained extremely supportive of him throughout his ordeal, but unfortunately they have faced hardships because of Charles’ incarceration.  His wife works, but has to receive government assistance to make ends meet and his mother is currently working three jobs to help support his wife and kids.  On the impact Charles’ incarceration has had on the family, his wife states: “It’s been hard, I can’t lie.  I would say with the bills, but I think for the most part, it’s been raising my kids without their father in the home.”

Between September of 2002 and January of 2003, Dwight was caught breaking and entering into parking meters in Ashville, North Carolina.  A total of $31.26 was taken from the three meters he broke into and he caused an estimated $200 worth of damage to the meters.  Dwight was charged as a habitual felon and sentenced to 7 ½ to 10 years in prison for these offenses.

Richard was sentenced under Michigan’s infamous “650 Lifer Law”.  Prior to 1998, the “650 Lifer Law” mandated life without parole for delivery or conspiracy to deliver 650 grams or more of cocaine or heroin.  In 1998, FAMM succeeded in reforming the “650 Lifer Law” penalty and won further reforms of the penalty in 2003.  Richard and others who had been convicted under the “650 Lifer Law” became eligible for parole after serving 15, 17.5, or 20 years, after the 1998 reforms. 

Guadalupe is serving more than 18 years in North Carolina. 

Unfortunately, the drug dealing lifestyle swept up David at a very early age.  He was only 14 when he first started to sell marijuana to support his habit. 

José worked in an auto mechanic shop to earn a living to support his wife and three children.  His troubles with the criminal justice system began when he traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to attend a friend’s wedding. When one of the other wedding guests, whom José had never met before, could not rent a hotel room because he did not have valid identification, José rented the guest a room in his own name. 

Growing up, neither Patricia nor her family fathomed that she would eventually develop a debilitating drug addiction. In December of 2003 Patricia forged $400 worth of checks to support her crack cocaine addiction. Because of prior convictions also related to sustaining her addiction, North Carolina's habitual felon law was triggered.

Erik, a former addict, lived a productive life and stayed sober for many years after completing a prison sentence. As debt mounted and life became stressful, he began using drugs again. Under Maryland's mandatory sentencing laws, he received 25 years.

Michaelene, a single mother of three, sold cocaine to support her own addiction. She has been incarcerated for eight years in Massachusetts.
 

Willie was married with 2 kids, gainfully employed and had never been in trouble with the law until he began to experiment with drugs at the age of 29.  After trying cocaine and crack cocaine on a few occasions, Willie quickly became a full-blown crack cocaine addict. As a result of his addiction, Willie was unable to hold down his job and consequently resorted to committing petty crimes to support his crack cocaine habit.

James was educated and devoted to his family, but an addiction to crack cocaine eventually resulted in life in prison in Louisiana.