Originally published April 1, 2021. Statements about the law were updated in October 2026; the box below gives today’s rules.
Outcomes vary. A past result does not predict or guarantee the outcome of any other case.
In March 2021, a federal judge granted compassionate release to Angela Dawn Jones after more than 13 years in prison. The court pointed to her rehabilitation and found she had been pressured into a thirty-year plea deal for a low-level drug crime.
United States v. Jones
2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61279
A hard start in life
Angela Dawn Jones has faced many hardships. As a young child, she watched her parents use drugs in front of her every day, and her mother was an alcoholic. Not surprisingly, Jones started using drugs herself while she was still a child.
Her father died in a tragic accident when she was only nine. Two of her siblings also died young. Her mother physically abused her, so she often ran away from home. When she was arrested, she was homeless.
Jones has been diagnosed with serious mental health conditions. She has a criminal history, but it is almost all driving and drug offenses, which is typical for people living with addiction.
Her sentence
Jones was serving a sentence for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine. In 2009, under a plea agreement, she was sentenced to thirty years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release (supervision by a probation officer after prison).
In July 2019, the court cut her prison term to twenty years after finding that “Defendant’s sentence was based on a subsequently reduced Guidelines range.” That set her release date at January 2, 2024.
What she did in prison
Jones, now fifty years old, completed many courses in custody, including the 500-hour Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). She did so well in RDAP that she was named a mentor and led several classes for her peers.
She also worked steadily and “receives outstanding performance evaluations monthly.” The BOP said Jones “is a hard worker that needs very little supervision” and “is not seen as a management problem.” In more than thirteen years in prison, she never had a single disciplinary violation.
She also had a plan for her future. She would live with her aunt and uncle in her hometown, where she has strong support from immediate and extended family. She planned to get her driver’s license back and find a job. She also hoped to take drug counseling courses so she could help others overcome addiction.
Why the judge said yes
The court granted compassionate release based on her rehabilitation in prison and the fact that Jones was coerced into taking a thirty-year plea deal for a low-level drug crime.
The court also said her conduct over the last thirteen years, her low risk of reoffending, and her security classification showed that she had been deterred from crime and was not a danger to the public.
Read the court’s order in United States v. Jones
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