Deborah Brackett

Sentence: 10 years
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine
Priors: One arrest.  See below
Year sentenced: 2002
Age at sentencing: 41
Projected release date: Feb 11, 2011
 
Nature of priors: In September 1999 Deborah let one of her friends stay at her house. The two would occasionally get high together, and when local authorities learned of their drug use, they raided Deborah’s residence.  Police found 3.57 grams of methamphetamine in her friend’s purse, along with drug paraphernalia, scales, ledgers, and a gun located in Deborah’s room.  Deborah claims the gun was for protection: at the time several murders had been committed in her neighborhood. Deborah was arrested, but her case was dismissed in lieu of her federal sentence. 
 
Deborah began abusing methamphetamine at age 18. Her addiction escalated when she married her husband, also a meth user, in 1986.  Together, they consumed about half a gram of methamphetamine a day until Deborah became pregnant with her eldest son.  Concerned for the health of her child and determined to overcome her addiction, Deborah left her husband, moved in with her mother, and managed to stay clean.  She worked as a nurse for almost a decade. Unfortunately, Deborah began using the drug again in 1998, culminating in her eventual arrest.
 
In October 1998, Deborah started selling small amounts of methamphetamine in a desperate attempt to finance her own addiction.  Around April 1999, Deborah learned that her supplier had been arrested.  She became scared and stopped selling the drug.   In March 2000, Texas police arrested Deborah after one of her codefendants informed authorities of Deborah’s drug use in exchange for leniency.  Based solely on the codefendant's information, the government estimated that Deborah sold 1.41 kilograms of methamphetamine from October 1998 to April 2000.
 
Deborah pled guilty. However, because of the gun enhancement from her previous charge she was ineligible for the safety valve, a judicial protection for first-time nonviolent offenders. She received the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. Deborah’s three codefendants received sentences of 14 years, four years and three years.
 
While out on bond before sentencing, Deborah sought professional treatment to fight her addiction. She joined DAIRE, a drug treatment facility in Texas, and Narcotics Anonymous and received excellent reports. Unfortunately, Deborah’s gun enhancement prevents her from receiving a one-year reduction from successfully completing the 500-hour Residential Drug Abuse Program in prison.

Deborah has two young children, one who has Down Syndrome.  Before her incarceration, Deborah cared for three sick family members: her nephew, who is paralyzed from the chest down; her father, who has prostate cancer, diabetes, and deteriorating hips that will eventually confine him to a wheelchair; and her sister, who was brought back to life after a major heart attack and now lives with a defibrillator in her chest.  Deborah’s family, especially her children, have been irreversibly impacted by her long sentence.