
 
 President Barack Obama speaks to reporters during a July 2015 visit to the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution outside Oklahoma City. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) 
 
 Carol Denise Richardson was sentenced to life in prison in 2006. Her crime? Possessing 50 grams or more of cocaine. Prosecutors said she intended to distribute the drugs. But what she had was crack cocaine and, like many in prison, she claimed the chunks of cocaine were to feed her own addiction — that she had no intention to share or sell them. 
 
 When Barack Obama was president, he agreed with criminal justice reform advocates who argued current laws unjustly treated those found with crack cocaine the same as those caught with more expensive, but less bulky, pure form of powder cocaine. Since prosecution and sentencing standards are based on weight, a handful of rocks of crack could result in much harsher punishment. 
 
 Based on this argument, Obama chose to grant clemency to a record number of prisoners who had committed nonviolent drug-related offenses. In 2016, Richardson became one of them. But now, she has been ordered to return to federal prison after violating the terms of her supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said Thursday. 
 
 "The president has taken great pains in giving positive reinforcement to those he's given clemency," Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama, told The Post's Sari Horwitz at a Washington Post event about incarceration and reentry into society. (Washington Post Live) 
 
 Richardson, a 49-year-old resident of Texas City, was originally convicted in 2006 for “conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine as well as two counts of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine base.” At the time, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison sentenced her to life in federal prison, noting that she had an extensive criminal history. 
 
 Richardson had already served about a decade of her life sentence when she received a reprieve last year, under an agreement that her release would be supervised for 10 years. For Richardson and hundreds of other nonviolent drug offenders granted clemency, the truncated prison sentence was a rare opportunity to reenter society. During his two terms in office, Obama commuted a total of 1,715 prison sentences, more than any other president in history. 
 
 Richardson was released from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on July 28, 2016. 
 
 However, on April 13, less than a year after her release, Richardson was arrested for theft in Pasadena, Tex., a Houston suburb. 
 
 [Obama grants final 330 commutations to nonviolent drug offenders] 
 
 According to acting U.S. attorney Abe Martinez, Richardson also violated four other terms of her release, including a failure to report any “law enforcement contact” to her probation officer within 72 hours. 
 
 “She has also failed to maintain regular contact with the U.S. Probation Office and failed to report that she had been terminated from her employment with Home Health Providers for abandoning her position,” Martinez said in a statement. “She also failed to report a change in her residence. In fact, as of May 15, 2017, attempts to reach her were unsuccessful, and her whereabouts were unknown.” 
 
 Richardson was finally located and arrested May 31, Martinez said. In a hearing Thursday, Ellison — the same judge who had sentenced Richardson to life in federal prison in 2006 — told her he was disappointed that she had wasted “the extremely rare opportunity she was given,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 
 
 Ellison ordered Richardson to return to federal prison for 14 months; afterward, she will be placed on supervised release for five years. 
 
 “This defendant was literally given a second chance to become a productive member of society and has wasted it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Imperato said in a statement after the hearing. “She has clearly shown a willful disregard for the law and must face the consequences for her crimes and actions.” 
 
 Mark Anthony Diaz, an attorney for Richardson, did not immediately return messages Saturday morning. Diaz told the Houston Chronicle that Richardson’s theft was for $60 worth of laundry detergent that she was going to sell for drug money and that she cried at her hearing. 
 
 Diaz said Richardson’s addiction to crack cocaine was why she relapsed and fell out of touch with her support system after her release, and he asked to know why she had not received drug treatment in prison, the Chronicle reported. 
 
 The CAN-DO Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for clemency for nonviolent drug offenders — including that of Richardson while she was imprisoned — echoed those concerns. 
 
 [Sessions weighs return to harsher punishments for low-level drug crimes] 
 
 “We are very concerned to hear that Carol Richardson has been sent back to prison for various probation violations that appear to stem from her drug addiction that has gone untreated,” the group said in a statement. “The system has failed Carol, yet again. It will be easy for some to point a finger at Carol and justify their support of harsh mandatory sentences as a necessity to keep people locked up, when we feel Carol’s current situation is proof that we desperately need to overhaul our current drug policy that treats addiction as a criminal issue, rather than a medical issue.” 
 
 While in prison, Richardson had been in contact with CAN-DO to make a case for her clemency. She detailed the circumstances that led to her life sentence, and said she had admitted herself into rehab in March 2005 and was getting treatment when she was indicted. 
 
 “I was a drug user and do not consider myself a drug dealer because I never profited from the sell of drugs,” Richardson wrote in a letter to the group. “I was convicted on testimony alone — no proof.” 
 
 She also noted that, among her four male co-defendants, including her husband, she received the harshest sentence for being present at two drug “buys,” despite never receiving money. 
 
 CAN-DO supported and prioritized Richardson’s case, placing her on its list of “Top 25 Women” seeking clemency, because the group felt she had been “tossed into the indictment, not because they profited from the drug trade, but because they were feeding a habit or in a relationship with a man involved in the drug trade.” 
 
 “Often, when the major dealers are arrested, they are offered sentence reductions if they will provide ‘substantial assistance’ and provide more names that can be added to the indictment,” the group says on its website. “Often, that will include anyone associated even slightly to the drug activity, including women who may have been a courier in exchange for drugs, or given very little money to feed their habit. 
 
 “Tragically, Carol fell into this category.” 
 
 [In Trump’s ‘ruthless’ vow, experts see a return to the days of the drug war] 
 
 Amy Povah, the founder of CAN-DO, told The Washington Post that, unlike some others the group has worked with, Richardson fell out of touch after she was released from prison. 
 
 “Most people do,” Povah said. “Carol was a little more introverted.” 
 
 She said the group does not keep statistics on the recidivism rate of those who had been granted clemency — beyond trying to keep in touch with former prisoners — but said that Richardson’s case was “extremely rare.” Povah said she had only known of one other person, Robert M. Gill of San Antonio, who had been returned to prison after being granted a second chance under Obama. 
 
 Earlier this year, Gill was arrested after being caught with cocaine and trying to flee from officers, according to the San Antonio Express News. Povah told The Post she felt Gill’s case was “more alarming … whereas it seems (Carol Richardson’s) behavior and lack of success is related to probation violations, many of which stem from her addiction.” 
 
 According to Povah, Richardson had always been forthcoming about her drug addiction, but was never able to take a 500-hour drug program in prison. She also likely had little assistance with medical issues, Povah said. 
 
 Like Carol, most people who get life sentences, upon release “literally have NO FUNDS, no home, no fruits from the drug trade that the feds wants the public to believe they were profiting from,” Povah wrote in an email. “Carol is a self admitted drug addict who used ‘daily,’ and tried to get help but never completed the program due to her addiction. The actual drug dealers in her case cut deals and are were back on the street in a few short years — so why are we hyper focused on Carol’s recidivism[?] Hopefully, her case can be used to understand what is wrong with our current drug war policy from start to finish.” 
 
 Norman Brown, of Hyattsville, Md., was granted clemency by former President Barack Obama in July 2015. In 1993 at age 22, Brown was sentenced to life in prison for cocaine distribution. (The Obama White House) 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Beyond ‘Orange is the New Black’: The storied past of Alderson federal women’s prison 
 
 How Jeff Sessions wants to bring back the war on drugs 
 
 Report: Black women are working hard but ‘our country is not working for them’ ||||| Texas woman granted clemency by Obama ordered back to federal prison for multiple violations 
 
 Carol Denise Richardson, 49, was arrested for theft in Pasadena and violated other conditions of her term for release from prison last year. Richardson was among scores of non-violent drug offenders granted clemency by President Barack Obama was ordered back to federal prison for violating the terms of her supervised release. less Carol Denise Richardson, 49, was arrested for theft in Pasadena and violated other conditions of her term for release from prison last year. Richardson was among scores of non-violent drug offenders granted ... more Photo: Texas Federal Court 
 
 Image of crack-cocaine (AP Photo) Image of crack-cocaine (AP Photo) 
 
 Cocaine Cocaine 
 
 Photo of drugs, weapons and money Photo of drugs, weapons and money Photo: Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office 
 
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 Photo: Texas Federal Court Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Texas woman granted clemency by Obama ordered back to federal prison for multiple violations 1 / 5 Back to Gallery 
 
 A Texas City woman who was among hundreds of non-violent drug offenders granted clemency by President Barack Obama was ordered back to federal prison Thursday for violating the terms of her release. 
 
 Carol Denise Richardson, 49, was arrested for theft in Pasadena and violated other conditions imposed when she was released from prison last year, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez in Houston. 
 
 "This defendant was literally given a second chance to become a productive member of society and has wasted it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Imperato said in a statement released by the office. "She has clearly shown a willful disregard for the law and must face the consequences for her crimes and actions." 
 
 ORIGINAL STORY: Texas City woman to serve life for drug conspiracy 
 
 Richardson was convicted by a federal jury in June 2006 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine and two counts of possession with intent to distribute the drug. 
 
 She has an extensive rap sheet, and was sentenced to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison. She was released from prison on July 28, 2016 after Obama tapped her for clemency. 
 
 During his two terms in office, Obama granted clemency to 1,715 people, including 568 inmates, like Richardson, who faced life sentences. The bulk of Obama's effort focused on non-violent drug offenders who had been locked up under strict sentencing laws. 
 
 Richardson was ordered to remain under supervision for 10 years, but on April 13 was arrested by Pasadena police. 
 
 CLEMENCY: Obama lists 6 from Texas in latest clemency announcement 
 
 Imperato told Ellison Thursday that, in addition to the arrest for theft, Richardson violated five separate terms of her release including failing to report that she had been arrested, that she'd been terminated from a job for not showing up and that she had changed her address. 
 
 The judge Thursday told Richardson he was disappointed that she had wasted a rare opportunity at freedom. He ordered her back to federal prison for 14 months, after which she will serve five years of supervised release. 
 
 Attorney Mark Anthony Diaz, who was assigned to Richardson's case during the series of events that brought her back to court, said she cried throughout the hearing. 
 
 He said the theft involved $60 of stolen laundry detergent that she planned to sell to buy drugs. 
 
 Diaz said the root of her relapse is an ongoing addiction to crack cocaine, which is how she ended up in prison in the first place. 
 
 Diaz said he asked the judge to assign her to mandatory drug rehabilitation. He questioned why Richardson had not been assigned to treatment while in prison, and Ellison said the Bureau of Prisons does not provide treatment to someone with a life sentence. 
 
 Ellison said he'd make rehab part of Richardson's release plan. 
 
 According to Diaz, Richardson had a strong family support system she relied on to stay clean during the first few months she was out, but once she relapsed into drug use, she failed to maintain contact with them.
– A Texas woman serving a life sentence for a relatively minor drug offense and given a second chance by President Obama is headed back to prison. Carol Denise Richardson, 49, was among hundreds of non-violent drug offenders granted clemency by Obama, who was persuaded by arguments from activists that drug laws were unfair, the Washington Post reports. They argued that defendants like Richardson found in possession of solid crack cocaine—in her case 50 grams—suffered unduly harsh sentences compared with those possessing powder cocaine, which weighs less and carries a lighter penalty. Richardson had served 10 years in prison when she was released in July 2016 as part of the largest prisoner release in US history. But she lost her freedom when she was arrested for theft on April 13. Defense lawyer Mark Diaz tells the Houston Chronicle that Richardson couldn't kick her crack habit and had stolen $60 worth of laundry detergent that she planned to sell to buy drugs. The same federal judge who sent Richardson to prison in 2006 rejected her lawyer's plea for rehab last week, ordering Richardson back to the slammer for 14 months, followed by five years of supervised release. "This defendant was literally given a second chance to become a productive member of society and has wasted it," Assistant US Attorney Ted Imperato said, per the Chronicle. A drug offenders advocacy group counters that Richardson was never treated for her drug problem, saying, "the system has failed Carol, yet again." (One inmate turned down Obama's clemency offer.)