leaving families like this with an uncertain future. tania page, al jazeera, south africa. just a reminder that you can always keep up to date with all of the news on our website that's at aljazeera.com. >> and the white house trying to rein them in today. thank you for joining us i'm joie chen. tonight a look at crime, justice and what may prove president obama's last major campaign. an all-out effort to force change in the criminal justice system. a key part reducing the sentences that many consider excessive for minor drug crimes. much identified is in need of

change, places like this, the streets of the nation's capital city with what became known as america's drug laws. >> if you remember dc in the early 1990s, it may help you underwhat happened to rudolph norris. they were high times, cocaine and crack so easy to get, it seemed like everyone was using. even the mayor. at guy like rudy norris could life. angel. >> i was not an angel. i was far from angel. >> you were this the light. >> cost me 27 years of my life. >> he was caught with an ounce of crack. half a candy bar's worth, a relatively minor drug offense. >> you weren't armed. >> no, i wasn't armed. >> you didn't hurt anybody.

>> i didn't hurt anyone. >> but you went to prison. >> i went to prison. >> what was the sentence. >> 360 sentence. >> in prison he was his own advocate, learning the system. >> that was my pastime. no basketball, none of that. i stayed in the law library, 24/7, from when they let us out to go back, i was in the law library. the gaol house lawyer found himself trapped by a harsh mandatory sentence guidelines beginning in the mid 1980s, to someat drug crime. >> mandatory minimum sentences tell judges the minimum sentence, it's like a flaw. the judge cannot go below that. >> he became an advocate against mandatory employment. after her brother went to prison for growing pot. >> look at the rocks. >> when crack hit the treats in the 1980s, the demand for

rose. >> the crack war and the drug war, every night on tv there was information about people being shot on the street corners and babies born, addicted to crack. there was a heightened half myth, half truth about drugs. that led to the current round of offenses. >> if we take the people committing crime off the street, we are going to get less crime. >> bill is a george town law professor who argues the get tough on drug crime approach did what it was meant to do. >> what happened over the last 20-25 years, when we have taken more people off the street, and incarcerated them for longer terms, crime decreased. >> otis says it's not just longer sentences. but by putting more offices on the street, taking a targetted

approach, the police are doing a better job. now he fears a new crime wave lies ahead. >> if we stop doing the things that worked, we'll go back to the bad old days of high crime. >> at the start of the final year of the final term in office. president obama is pressing hard for criminal justice reform. >> our prisons are crowded with not only hard-core violently vrnds, but those serving long sentences for drug crimes at taxpayers expense. >> while waiting for congress to act. he took things into his own hands, using his federal power to order the release of 22 prisoners, gaoled for lengthy terms on low-level drug offenses. this is the alert that changed your life. >> that's right, this is the letter that changes. >> i believe in your ability to

prove that doubt it wrong. obama. >> reporter: it was the second chance norris waited 23 years come. >> that's when the guys stepped in saying i want you to know that - i mean, i was lost for words. he said "how are you feeling?", i jumped up crying. >> reporter: norris is part of a wave of releases tide to federal justice reforms. 46,000 prisoners were eligible to bring their prison terms in guidelines. >> as a result, 6,000 federal prisoners had one release. >> what do you expect will releases. >> we know what will happen, when there's early release, crime. >> those 6,000 prisoners were going to get out. now they are getting out, some of them a little earlier.

>> stuart said that crime rates have dropped. what is more important than the adva kates of reform, is what comes next. whether congress is backing changes that have not been made since 1980s. and for those that served decades behind bars and are getting out now, the real test outside. >> it's not ta easy, people are institutionalized in prison. you are told when to get up, when to eat, what job to do, when to stand up, when to sleep. someone is constantly telling them what to do. after a couple of decades of that, you get out and are expected to figure it out on your own. >> a lot of us sit in prison. >> how old are you. half my life. i'm sitting with the phone.

back on the streets after more than two decades. >> tangos, testing technologies that didn't exist when rudy norris went away, he's learning about it form grandchildren in the prison terms. in the first weeks out of prison he found strong support. his brother landed a job. norris must still work to win over the new boss. they had whatever needed help coming out of incarceration, you know. it didn't work, not all the time. you know, it was, like i said, up to the individual. you know, and to have interest in changing their life. >> rudy norris intends to do just that, speaking about his experience with young students in the justice system.

>> you don't have to be addicted to drugs. just as worse as the person that used them. >> and to young people at risk, following his path into prison. >> it was a destructive life. i had to learn to give it up. i had to lose a desire for it. >> finally free, after half a lifetime lost. rudy norris carries little of the bitterness you might expect him to have. >> should all these people get out of prison. >> i believe in people having a second chance. that's the one thing i refuse to do, wear the label. i'm a person that made a bad it. >> a crisis in criminal justice that began decc i said ago. next up why we have mandatory minimums in a world without bias.

up for debate.

what to do about minimums. despite the so-called war on drugs. the rules are disproportionately impacting minorities, particularly african-american men. what is often lost in the dae de -- debate is how we came to have them in the first place. would they come to pass in a world without bias. they ran out of ways to describe how great he was. len bias, twice the a.c.c. player of the year, twice an all-american. the one guy that might outplay michael jordan. a hard-core hero, growing up minutes away from the university of marylands. >> lo and behold here is a 6 foot 8, 220 pound basketball player from this neighbourhood, who could hang in the air

for 3, 4 seconds. he looked like a kid, but when he took the ball, went up to the hoop and hung for a second saying "do i have your attention everyone", and delivered what they called the neutron slam dunk in the mid-1980s, cortland malloy was a rock star, writing for "the washington post," his finger on the pulse of urban life. in a rapidly changing city. >> we came out, blinded by the glitter ball turning. the sky seemed like the limit. you may call it a false sense of success. people thought we had it made. but it wouldn't take long before apparent. down. >> cocaine came to town. >> reporter: crack came to town. it caught up a lot of people, including the mayor.

>> yes, lots of people. >> reporter: it caught you, too. >> well it caught me - i caught it. you know, going to parties, people were trying it, looking like they were having fun, stuff like that. >> with plenty to celebrate, len bias was caught up too. in june 1986, he was the first round draft pick of the national champions. he picked up the celtics jersey one day, had a million dollar deal and handed to campus to celebrate. next day he was dead of a cocaine overdose. >> stopped his heart. no one could believe it. the shock of it - they were still celebrating him being the celtic's first round. >> was it heart break? >> it was mind boggling, it was dis-orienting. i mean the news casters couldn't tell the story without crying,

there is it what people called the little crystal things that everyone was doing. wait a minute. what is this. we thought this was, like, harmless. we thought it was a disco drug. god? >> it was killing a lot of gods, people just didn't know it. when it killed the star, it was like oh, my goodness. homicide. >> reporter: this is a look at the history. >> yes. >> this is what produced. >> that's right. this is the public log, that president regan signed in october. in 1986 eric was serving the house judiciary committee. when he returned from a trip home to boston, demanding on overhaul of drug crime law. >> this was produced in four weeks. job. >> completely. >> reporter: ahead of the

midterm elections the speaker seized on an opportunity. >> the republicans manipulated the democrats on crime, as part of a recollection in '84. the democrats were very, very san ties said in 1986. >> reporter: they felt vel nerable to being week on crime. >> that's right. the speaker of the house saw it as an opportunity to change the political dynamic, pulling down the how's democrat crats in four -- house department crats to create the bill. >> reporter: could you have slowed the train down? >> absolutely not, no. no one was slowing the train down, we would not have it the mandatory minimums if it had not been for len bias. >> politicians saw a chance to do something. >> politicians saw a chance to win an election. what side would take the most advantage of the len bias

death in that election. stirling insists there wasn't a deliberate attempt to target minorities, but the rushed legislation made it easier for police and prosecutors to go after the little guys. >> that's what ought to infuriate the american people, that a law designed is used against offenders that were predominantly black. >> four years after the bill known on capitol hill, was passed, sterling found families against mandatory minimums and focused his work on reforming sentencing guidelines. >> ipted the population was 36,000 when len bias died. it was over 200,000. billions spent as a consequence death. >> now, nearly 30 years later,

congress and the white house poised to make an overhaul of trying crime law. men fans mark the anniversary of len biases death with a round of what ifs, how he might have changed the n.b.a. had he lived. and others wonder how len bias's deaths comms to change the lives of other black men. >> the miscarriage of justice. the iron yip. len bias, the hero, is avenged by getting the people that looked up to him. the hernia, the cocaine, is still coming in. the guns are flowing, you know. the would-be len biases, you know, are still dying. this time, before they get to that point, so you lose it all, the potential, and people don't get it had he lived today, len bias would be a man in his 50s. >> next we consider the men doing their time.

and what comes after. in a moment, we consider ageing out of the system, and what comes next. the only way to get better is to challenge yourself,

and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time.

every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around. a debt paid to society, the cost can remain hype. as part of a criminal reform effort, president obama is calling for changes making it easier for released convicts to get housing, training and employment. the fastest growing population is inmates over the age of 50, a group that grew 25% in four years. the release could be a financial burden to communities, and may come as a cost to them as well. "america tonight"s okanagan on the tough sentence many face on the

outside. . >> i started using drugs at sa. i've been to the penitentiary jeffy washington has been in and out of the criminal justice system for the past 24 years. one of the fast-growing group behind bars. older prisoners. >> and the last thing i want to do is come back and see it. >> reporter: there's about 250,000 prisoners over 50 in the u.s. thanks to stricter laws. many have been imprisoned for a long title. when they are released, they are at a unique disadvantage. the world they are entering is different to the one they left. here. >> reporter: that's as good as cold to you. >> that's as good as cold. it's called a prescription. leaving out, stay alive and free.

>> reporter: jeffrey is in a block, the re-entry pod. the first of its kind, it helps inmates re-enter the real world. >> repeat offenders is not something that you are able to stop overnight. it requires tension. >> reporter: san francisco's sheriff's office helped to launch the programme. and says at the time the u.s. criminal justice system lacked a mechanism to prepare the growing number of older offenders like jeffrey washington for re-entry. >> when you work with seniors, it's a growing population. what do you seniors face when they are released into society, that, perhaps, younger men and women do not? >> arthritis, diabetes. wealth. >> prison will aid you 10-20 years.

the stress being in prison. >> reporter: frank williams nose something about the stress of life behind bars. >> i was incarcerated on the federal indictment for embezzlement. also i was convicted for a narcotic possession, and narcotics for sale. so those were my convictions. i see it in your high. there's shame about talking about it? >> i have feelings, when you use drugs, you are numb, you don't want to people. >> after serving time in san quinton, frank turned his life around, 18 years ago, and has not looked back. >> my past is my purpose, my past and the reason why i do what i do today. frank found the purpose. he's a director. senior ex-offenders programme, or a sop a pipeline. temporary

housing therapist, job counsellors. what challenges do seniors face after incarceration. >> the shame they get from society. you know, you need some help. you shouldn't be wrong. those are your consequences. >> what specifically does your programme do. >> we do alcohol and drug counselling, we bring in mental health providers. we inspire and motivate them. >> they have helped 60 inmates achieve self sufficiency so far. it doesn't work for everyone, but for some, it gives them a confidence they have never felt before. >> i graduated from the programme a month ago. they help me, steer me to a clean plate. all my felonies were down to misdemeanours, he helped with bank acts and helped in therapy.

>> what do they help you with, with therapy. why is it significant? >> i never graduated anything in my life. and i got the certificate. i cried. finally i complished something in life. it's a certificate of completion. with the help much frank williams, he works five days a week. cooking meals for the agency. >> do you stims think when you chop up -- sometimes thing when you chop up corn bread this beats life on the streets. >> i don't think about life on the streets. >> do you look ba and think where would i have been if it were not for the year and a half of the programme? >> i would be dead. seriously. or in prison.

again. >> gaol was the intersection of so many youngs. coming through something like this helps you to learn better habits, skills and unlearn the habits or responses that you just shouldn't have. >> were there any programs like the one you now run around when you were in prison. >> no. we have to learn how to love each other, ourselves, and somebody - what do you say to the people that say why should i care about these people? you know, people made a mistake in life. somebody was there for them. nobody make it alone. that's the premise of our programme. we should be there for them. >> give me a sense, and for all the people watching who can't imagine what it must be like to be 57 years old and an ex convict and the challenges he

faces perform. >> when he was 62 years i qualified, and that's for a retirement fund. you can't rent a closet for $550 a month. nowhere in the united states, basically, can you rent an apartment and sustain your medical bills, your food. day to day survival. $550 a month. >> you are looking for work. you haven't had a job history. what can you do. what can you get hired for. i'm an ex-offender, we are not hiring ex-offenders. they go through it. they have the stigma when they come out. >> where do you think you would be in this day. if you weren't housed in a pod where you get these services. >> i might go back to crime. >> really? >> you say that without pausing. >> it's true.

i this to man up. we get the show up from the day to day responsibilities, no one will give me a job and a pay check. i'm ready to confront them. it's a change for the better or i'll find myself in orange. that's no place to be. >> okanagan, san francisco that's a look at criminal justice reform. tell us what you think at "america tonight". talk to us on twitter or facebook, and come back, we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> our american story is written everyday. it's not always pretty, but it's real... and we show you like no-one else can. this is our american story. this is america tonight.

at least 14 people are killed by a bomb blast near a polio vaccination center in pakistan. welcome to al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha. also ahead raids and arrests in turkey following an explosion in istanbul that killed ten people. police detaped three russian nationals. south korea demands tougher sanctions against its northern neighbor to punish it for the latest nuclear chest.