John Oliver goes after mandatory minimum sentences

John Oliver took on the need for mandatory minimum reform on the latest Last Week Tonight, highlighting a number of cases of prisoners serving surprisingly long prison sentences for relatively minor crimes.

These controversial War on Drugs-era laws were back in the news recently after President Obama commuted the sentences of 46 non-violent drug offenders, a move that Oliver didn’t think went far enough, joking that it was “the criminal justice version of Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen“.

The prisoners were all incarcerated under mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which require typically harsh sentences regardless of the context of each crime.

Wouldn’t it be great if this was Blatter’s plan all along-travel to Russian Federation and hang out with other super villains while avoiding any country that could extradite you to the closet in Loretta Lynch’s office for however long it takes for the rest of us to forget any of this mess ever happened? “Which is a little odd, because context is important”. “Prison sentences are a lot like penises: “If they’re used correctly, even a short one can do the trick”, Oliver said, quickly adding, “…is a rumor I have heard”. “Circumstances make a huge difference, that’s what I’m trying to say”. Oliver argued that the practice leads to over-incarceration IN prisons, where 2 million Americans now reside.

“He won’t get out until he’s 79 for selling something that’s legal for recreational use in four states and whose main side effect is making episodes of “Frasier” slightly funnier”, Oliver said.

Even the judge who sentenced that man said, “That’s not right”.