welcome to al jaze rest a.z. >>. major news about the economy tonight. a jump in construction and manufacturing jobs helped bring the unemployment rate down to 7% it's the lowest in five years the economy gained more than 200,000 new positions last month. 20,000 more than expected. >> a wintery storm is bringing ice snow and freezing temperatures across the country. winter storm warnings are in effect for a large part of the

united states i.. it's crippling air flights and leaving driving dangerous. i will be back here at 11:00 eastern and 8:0:00:00 pacific entertainment. pacific -- time. you can get the latist news on-line at al jazeera.com. on "america tonight" crime and p punishment. our justice system o effort to t a standard. >> when i is a plea deal no deal at all.

>> going to trial is not a crime and your sentence should not reflect the fact that you went to trial. and also tonight remebering mandela. the man that shaiferre shared t. the exquisite taste. i had the privilege to cook mr. mande mandela's first meal f captivity. ♪ googood evening and thank yu for joining us i'm expwroz. joie chen.

but it was also designed to send a message t that the nation was serious about it's war on drugs. in the year since ho how howevey have come together to criticize the guidelines which limit judges gues discretion in handit sensentences. >> prosecutors can strong arm defendants into plea deals. a young man received a sentence that eastern even a judge call. >> 23 years eatio ago weldon waa father of two bhoi bhois boys aa budding record label. >> he was a total joke jokester.

>> this is weldon's sister. inafge left he was also a smalle marijuana dealer. trans actions that let him down to this place the fed penitentiary where he has been incarcerated for a debl decade w rchl. >> while we talkin angela called for prison and talked about what led him there. i was young and dumb and it was a big mistake. >> a mistake that owe i e he isg dearly for. >> one of my childhood friends was arrested and he was works as an informant. >> he sold his friend pot three times. a total value of just over 1,000

dollars. the informant claimed he saw a gun in two transactions. and aer iscer is e serb a seard guns. >> it's a progressive stat utd youtuba progress statute withth. 9 firsltthe first one is five y. >>. >> did he use the gun or pull the gunned o gurn or begun o gu. >> no. the prosecutor gave him a 3450ea deal. >> we faced over on 100 years ie didn't take the plea offer. the prosecutor said if you don't take the plea offer you will

face a hundred years in prison. >>. >> he had no prior sentence. >> it was an outrage us sens see sand the presence 6and the press incidental. and there was no violence going on. if the prosecutor was threatening you with the one hundred years why wouldn't you take the plea. >> who would think that you could get 100 years for marijuana offences. it didn't seem like it was possible. i refused to believe at that it could happen. >> going to trial is not a crime and your sen sentence should not reflejreflect therefleblghreflee going to trial.

>> icop a plea or pay the price. because that is exactly what is going on. if you don't plead you will pay a price for not pleading. it's not the crime you did. >>. >> if you don't take it they are going to make an example out of you. >> it gals them i think quite frankly when someone doe doesn't accept 9 the plea. at the heart are mandatory minimums. the prosecutors often threaten deftddefendants. >> if you are looking at a mandatory minimum at the

prosecutor's discretion he files a notice with the court and says you have two priers an priors au have life without par roll. last year 61% received a mandatory minimum conviction. >> federal junction confronted with mandatory minimums have no discretion and across the country the political divide are have smok spoken out. the mandatory minut minimums are costly and unfair and don't make the country safe. patrick's lahey held a hearing into mandatory minimums. and likely ally rand paul.

mandatory minut minimum sentencs destroyed so many lives. in 2004 after he went to trial after turning down the plea bargain he faced 100 years in prison for marijuana a and gun charges he was convicted on three counts and one gun charge. >> he was onl on o obliged to se him to 50 years in jail. >> he has a longer term than three hijackings or three kidnappings or three raims. rap.

>>. >> there is no question that he committed a crime and he should be punished. but 5 55 years? he will be in jail until he is 85 years old. >> in the court that day his eldest son anthony then seven 55 grease55years is more than you e lived so fare. so far you hav vur have you beee to grasp what that is i in your head. >> i just wonder if my dad will fer get ouever get out and if ie him before i'm 18. >> i'm sorry. >> it's okay. >> all of his appeals have been exhaustioned. thinks only hope of leaving prison before his 8 80th

80th birthday is clemency. >> a cause his sister is championing. even good people make mistakes i think his mistake cost him his life. that is what we are hoping to change with the clemency from obama. this is huge for you and your family. >> what would you like president obama to know about you. >> i'm a cigarettes ya kris chra big mistake and if i get out i will give him no reason to regret it. >> what is his sentence of clemency. bpresident obama has been reluck reluctant to commute certain ses he has commuted one sen seven s.

and his former lawye lawyer doet hold out a lot of hope. >> this is incredible. >> judges are yo ewe ew are uni. gl.d what does the attorney general's department say about this. there is it a move to take back control and put it back in the hands of judges. there has been reduction to ease the confusion between crack cocaine and cocaine powder but it has not gone far enough yet. there are thousands of prisoners in the federal system everyone of them costs $30,000 a year. on economic glound grounds alont makes sense you have to get this right ssments. this. >> this is not what is intended

by imposing mandatory minimums. it's graphic and based on political views. >> and 9 ai the aim of congresss to bring sentencing into line and have more rational. a ten year mandatory minimum and that was meant for a drug king pin. someone that is important in the drug world. 23,409 not a guy like this. this is it small time selling pot to a friend. you are finding that the small the highis higher numbers. sheila mcvicker thank thank youy much for this investigation. appreciate it. ahead on america tonight. remebering mandela, a friend that had a shared faith 2349 ine

fiewlt lfuture.

123. >> the young cleric that led th. >>. >> he also became a close frienf nelson mandela. >> and following up with a discussion about nelson mandela is allan bosak.

>> i appreciate you being here. i have to point out you are an iconic and important figure in your own right remember we are talking about a man that is more than a generation behind nelson mandela a and involved in the se struggle. can you talk about the inspiration that he was even those years a he was hidden awa. >> he was an invises invis i ir and he is a strong symbol of the memory othe -- in the memory ofe people of what he left behind. hiand his determination to stand for the ideals he stood for. >> he was an indescribable inspiration for us. i have never heard his voice or seen his face but every time i spoke about mandela i knew this

was the leader h we need. >> was he able to give direction to those of you involved in the movement to thre try to change things. >> the only contact with the outside word was his lawyer and his wife. and they could not speak strategy in prison where everything's was tamed and the police new what wal was going o. what he fought for and struggled for and was willing to sacrifice for. those are the di ideals he still stands for and those are the things you should tell the people. the morale authority was there even though the physical preference and you couldn't hear him or write to him. >> the south african government thought when they put him away for life he will die in prison and certainly in the hearts of people.

>> in 1964 i was a kid then. i didn't know what was happening. i slowly began to understand, under the repression and there was nothing we could do and then we had 1970's and when 1976 happened here is a new generation and they did not know mandela. and so it fell upon us to make sure that that generation understood and the struggle was still going on. >> nelson mandela understood the strution el wastruggle was stil. it was an idea i was willing to die for. if you have that as a messin me, the sackry fiesese sacrifices y.

i can hardly think of a week that went by that we haven't had a funeral. aarchbishop and i i buried 27 people at one time. >> the br brutality. >> to say to people if you are willing to follow mandela and remember what he said. they were willing to make that sacrifice. the fact he said it sand it wass real to them. >> we will ask you to stand by for a moment. we'll continue our conversation about nelson mandela and his legacy safer after a break..

and welcome back. we are looking at this hour at the extraordinary life and legacy of nelson mandela. >> with us here is allan bosak. he knew nelson mandela as a dear friend. the memory of him for much of us asis an iconic figure. you want him to be remembered of more than a deity. >> he is not a deity and he wouldn't want to be. >> he was part of your life. i see him as a part of my life. >> >> he was a part of your life. >> i saw him in my home and he slept in my bed.

>> my little girl came running into the room and he took time to pick her up and to talk with her and kiss her on the cheek and all the while pointing to me and you go on with what you are saying. that the other thing about him. even though i was so much younger and i felt small in his presence, he listened to what you had to say. he took seriously to whatever you had to bring to the table. he die serkte dissected it and d what cause of action you should bring. >> he was a listener. did he understand what he would come in to the world after his imprisonment? did he understand the world that he was coming back to. that people had been waiting for him? that there was this sense of nelson mandela coming out and his impact not only across south

africa and across the world and in this country. >> i thought he knew that his people still loved him. that is why they could go on with the struggle and made so many sacrifices. also on his m behalf of i don't think he would come out and be he ihe is revered and capture te world the way he did. he was such a gift. he never thought of himself as a gift to south african people never mind the rest of the world. he embraced it with humility and tenderness in a way you new it was genuine. and now finally i'm getting my reward. there was never anything like that at auld. auld -- all. and if south africa's people and the young people of the world could take that away from him. in your humility and your willing ngs to bness to be aer u

really could be great. >> he was really a great man. allan bosak thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> nelson mandela was a friend to many but there are those that admired him from afar. imagine being a young person and going to work everyday and then your hero comes in and you can serve him. we have that story. >> this is actually the south african flag. >> of all of the meals that dominique has prepared in his long career as a chef the chef t memorable was this. a dish that was prepared for a man he revered. >> he was originally from a nation off south africa's southeast coast and moved to south africa in the 1980's and worked in a cape town hotel.

i was there at the right time. i had the privilege to cook mr.mamr. mandela's first meal. >> they had no idea that they were about to cook mandela's first meal. >> it was a normal day until 3:00 in the afternoon we saw a lot of strange characters with weapons and checking you out and making sure that the food was your people would taste the food. >> the meal itself was simple. the south african version of shrimp remoulde. >> what was it like to re-create this? it was a big meal for you. >> for me it was the most important meal i have ever cooked in my life. >> it thosit shows freedom and

forgiveness and for me it's a very emotional and special meal. >> once the food had gone out m ramarquette had a chance to look at mandela. >> i had a chance to go out and see him and he looked so relaxed. and same demeanor and smile he had. around foand for giving. >> that is what i remember the forgiveness in his eyes. >> very simple but very special. >> simple meal but permanent imprint. >> it was an unbelievable experience. only once in your century can you see a man like nel stone nn

mandela. >> it was a beautiful experience tto be there at that moment. we leave you tonight with a the sights and sounds of a restaurant in broo brooklyn, nek where south african's pay tribute to the light of liar thr lives. ♪ ready to go! have. [cheers and applause] >> he was our life. i am more humble, more spiritual, more for givinggiving because of him. >> ♪