More than 7,000 crack-cocaine offenders have been released from prison since the U.S. Sentencing Commission began reducing their prison sentences in March, the Washington Post reported June 8.

Some, like Nerika Jenkins, threw themselves into planning their life after prison; incarcerated for 11 years, Jenkins, 36, took a host of vocational classes behind bars and plans to open a nursing home. A first-time offender, Jenkins was given 19 years in prison after refusing to testify against a boyfriend who was charged with dealing crack in Virginia. When she appealed her sentence under the new guidelines earlier this year state prosecutors objected to a reduction, but a judge ordered her freed from prison.

The most high-profile inmate released was Willie Mays Aikens, a former Major League Baseball player who received a 15-year sentence for possessing 63 grams of crack.

Freed offenders are having to adjust to a changed world where computer use is ubiquitous and the memories of prison linger.

Observers say that, so far, the fears of Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and others that the releases would trigger a crime wave have not been realized. "We haven't heard anything from the department or elsewhere bearing out their initial fear that these releases would happen in some en masse way, pouring out people into communities," said Mary Price, vice president and general counsel for Families Against Mandatory Minimums. "There will be people who will find themselves in this situation again -- there's no question about that. But that would happen if we let them [out] early or at their regular time."

"I'm very hopeful that our federal government is keeping track of the recidivism numbers," said Charles D. Stimson of the Heritage Foundation. "I'm not one to suggest that all those who are eligible for release will be re-arrested. I'm sure they won't be. But it would be helpful to inform the public and [Congress] on an ongoing basis."