“I’ve heard all these Republicans say, ‘Well, we don’t care if Mr. Trump did wrong, we’re going to support him anyway,’” Bonnie Erwin said in a recent phone conversation from prison.
Partially paralyzed on his right side from a stroke a decade ago, Mr. Erwin relies on other inmates to push his wheelchair and to type his emails.
Mr. Erwin is both a reflection of an earlier era’s draconian prison sentences and an example of how recent reforms can miss their mark.
He was convicted by an all-white jury two years before the Supreme Court forbade the racial pruning of jury pools.
He was sentenced three years too early to qualify for “compassionate release” under the terms of a law, the First Step Act, signed by President Trump in 2018.
Persons:
Donald Trump, “ I’ve, Trump, ’, Bonnie Erwin, Mr, Erwin, President Trump
Organizations:
Federal Medical Center
Locations:
Texas, Fort Worth