Corrupt Cop To Get Early Release In Sentence Reductions Pushed By Holder

A dirty Chicago cop got about six months chopped off of his prison term Monday because of a national change in sentencing rules pushed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Former officer Corey Flagg, 44, was part of a ring of Englewood District cops who robbed drug dealers.

Flagg pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, as well as possession of a firearm in a drug-trafficking crime. He was sentenced to a 9½-year prison term in 2008.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman granted Flagg a 17-month reduction in his 114-month sentence based on a change in U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines. The commission, an independent agency that sets sentencing policies for federal crimes, voted last year to reduce the penalties for most drug crimes and make the change retroactive. Holder had testified before Congress and the commission in favor of it.

The change took effect on Nov. 1, 2014, but prisoners aren't eligible for release until a year from then — on Nov. 1, 2015. That means Flagg will have nearly six months shaved off his sentence because he was scheduled to leave prison on April 25, 2016. He's being held in a low-security prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

Dozens of requests for cuts in drug sentences have been filed in federal court in Chicago, officials said. About 46,000 prisoners across the country are eligible for such reductions. Last year, Holder called the commission's decision a "milestone in the effort to make more efficient use of our law-enforcement resources and ease the burden on our overcrowded prison system.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)