John Oliver Blasts America's Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentences

During the Eighties and Nineties, the U.S. government introduced mandatory minimums, which require judges to punish particular crimes with minimum prison sentences regardless of context. John Oliver outlines the shocking facts in his latest Last Week Tonight report.
The host cites The Washington Post, which reports that "since 1980, the number of inmates behind bars has more than quadrupled." This equals roughly 2 million people, or one out of every 100 adults. Meanwhile, first-time-offending pot dealer Weldon Angelos was sentenced to 55 years: "If my math is right here, this low-level pot dealer received the exact same sentence as would an airplane-hijacking, child-raping terrorist – a person so evil I legitimately don't know if one has ever existed."