WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to allow some 19,500 federal prison inmates, most of them black, to seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences. The commission, which sets guidelines for federal prison sentences, decided to make retroactive its recent easing of recommended sentences for crack offenses. Roughly 3,800 inmates could be eligible for release from prison within a year after the March 3 effective date of Tuesday's decision. Federal judges will have the final say whether to reduce sentences. The commissioners said the delay would give judges and prison officials time to deal with public safety and other issues. U.S. District Judge William Sessions of Vermont, a commission member, said the vote on retroactivity will have the most dramatic impact on African-American families. A failure to act may be taken by some as particularly unjust, Sessions said before the vote. The seven-member commission took note of objections raised by the Bush administration, but said there is no basis to treat convicts sentenced before the guideline change differently from those sentenced after the change. Inmate family representatives and other advocates had said a Supreme Court decision on Monday could only improve chances the commission would address the long-criticized disparity in sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses. Crack is predominantly used by blacks; powder cocaine, predominantly by whites. The administration restated its opposition to the easing on Tuesday before the commission voted. Our position is clear, said Attorney General Michael Mukasey at a news conference. We oppose it. The attorney general said the convicted crack offenders were sentenced under an existing standard and to change that standard retroactively dismisses any mitigating factors the sentencing judge considered when deciding how long a prison term to set.

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