Albemarle, Va. (Newsradiovwrva.com) - The ACLU of Virginia is suing the Virginia Department of Corrections, saying the Department is wrongly applying a budget provision that tightened the ability of certain inmates to receive sentence credits. The ACLU believes the provision should not be applied retroactively, as is happening.
The ACLU is suing in Albemarle on behalf one inmate, Antoine Anderson, who would have been eligible to be released this summer under a 2020 law which made credits easier to get. However, the budget bill this year tightened that law, making it more difficult to get credits if there were also violent felony convictions. Anderson was serving time for drug crimes but also had a conviction for an attempted escape and an assault.
Anderson is now not facing release until 2024. The ACLU says there is also another lawsuit making similar arguments in Richmond Circuit Court.
