Free Tameka Drummer, who is serving a life sentence for a marijuana charge due to unjust habitual offender laws in Mississippi.
In 2008, Tameka Drummer was sentenced to life in prison in Mississippi for possessing 2 ounces of marijuana. She was pulled over for a routine traffic stop for an expired license plate when officers searched her car and found a small amount of pot – the same amount which can now be bought legally in many states. She has been in prison for the last 12 years for this offense and will be for the rest of her life unless citizens continue to put pressure on the Mississippi government to do away with unjust “habitual offender” laws like the one that has imprisoned Drummer.
The habitual offender statute allows for extended imprisonment for previous offenders, usually far beyond the typical maximum sentence for a crime. This allows for lesser offenses, like Drummer’s small amount of pot, to result in life sentences. These laws disproportionately affect Black men and women and participate in the toxic cycle of mass incarceration in America. Drummer was counted as a habitual offender due to two previous marijuana possession convictions, as well as being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1992 and aggravated assault in 1998.
While people put pressure on Gov. Tate Reeves to pardon Drummer or do away with habitual offender laws, something he says he has no intention of doing, more people are coming to understand how unjust these laws are. Mississippi’s habitual offender laws are some of the harshest, and the state holds the title of the third-highest imprisonment rate in the US. A report by FWD.us says “Mississippi’s habitual offender laws are causing “extreme” prison sentences that are disproportionately affecting African American men and are costing the state millions of dollars for decades of incarceration.”
Drummer, as well as many others, deserves a chance at justice. Help her achieve it by signing this petition to put pressure on Gov. Reeves and state officials to do away with unjust habitual offender laws and release minor offenders like Drummer.
